Recollecting America’s Original Sin

Alison M. Benders, Emerita, Jesuit School of Theology, Santa Clara University, is the author of the award-winning Just Prayer: A Book of Hours for Peacemakers and Justice Seekers, and Recollecting America's Original Sin, published by Liturgical Press.

"Through recollecting threads of her story with stories of slavery and institutionalized racism in this country, Benders offers theological insights on the relationship between original sin and individual sin as well as the interdependence of liberation."Erin Brigham, University of San Francisco

• ContentsPreface ixFirst WeekOn the Threshold of a Journey 1Moment 1: Reckoning 1Moment 2: “When You Pray, Move Your Feet” 5Moment 3: Mr. Jefferson’s Shadow 10Moment 4: Teach Your Children Well 17Moment 5: Ties That Bind 20Moment 6: Origins and Original Sin 24Moment 7: It’s Not Just Black and White 28Getting My Bearings 30Second WeekShackled Past and Present in Louisiana 33Moment 1: Sold Down the River 34Moment 2: The Past Is Present in New Orleans 41Moment 3: Raising Cane 49Moment 4: Raising Cain 55Moment 5: New Orleans Saints 60Moment 6: Black and Catholic 66Moment 7: The Lower Ninth Ward 69Unshackling from the Past 75 Third WeekA Deep South Revolution 77Moment 1: Strange Fruit 78Moment 2: Feet and Faith in Montgomery 84Moment 3: “You Do It to Me” 89Moment 4: Proud Selma 95Moment 5: “What Mean These Stones?” 103Moment 6: Mighty Morehouse 107Moment 7: 1968 112Turning North 116Fourth WeekJust Resistance 118Moment 1: The Cleveland-Glenville Shoot-Out 120Moment 2: Northern White Resistance and the Lost Cause 127Moment 3: Counting Beads of Hope 133Moment 4: Resisting Segregation—Now 137Moment 5: Resisting Segregation—Then 143Moment 6: Just Reckonings 147Moment 7: On That Day 150Selected Bibliography 153