Less than a week before Princeton University professor Dr. Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. was scheduled to speak at my church I heard in passing he was going to give a presentation about his new book America, USA: how race shadows the nation's anniversaries. I was more than a little surprised how it nearly flew under my radar and feared the event would not receive as much attention as it deserved. At the very least, it should have appeared in our church's newsletter, and in the eBlast for The Community Well, a non-profit that exists without our church and one of the sponsors of the event.
I'm pleased to say in that short time word got out and he spoke to a Standing Room Only audience.
Dr. Glaude is an excellent speaker. He spent the hour mesmerizing me with the connections he made throughout history to drive home the main message of how American tends to whitewash our history, especially as we draw closer to our anniversary years. Our 250th was the rule, not the exception.
"We are an adolescent nation that doesn't want to grow up. We need our innocence so we can't accept our faults," states Glaude. There is always a veil between the white side of town and the black side of town.
"American has a divided soul. We are a beacon of freedom and a white republic. We are the shining city on the hill [and we have] compromises around [being] a slaveholding nation. Our citizenship is tethered to our whiteness." Hopefully my quotes are correct. The brackets indicate words I did not write in my notes. Misquotes are entirely my fault.
Listening and learning from him I want to learn more. I want to better understand.
Glaude spoke about Moses Gordon. The link is to an article Glaude published on Memorial Day 2026 about Gordon. He was a slave being held by Caleb Trueblood, a Quaker. Three months after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Skinner freed him. Two years later he was captured because North Carolina law would not allow manumission, unless the slave had fought in the Revolutionary War. He became the property of Brigadier General William Skinner. He escaped to Philadelphia where he lived for ten years. He was captured under the Fugitive Slave Clause of 1793 and reenslaved to General Skinner who thought he was a thief for the act of "stealing himself." The law was later rescinded and the transatlantic slave trade was ended.
I was enthralled listening to him speak. This is history I have never heard before. From the sounds of the ethnically diverse audience, others were all too familiar with Gordon's life. It echoes their own family histories in ways as a white American I don't understand in my marrow.
Glaude ways he doesn't love America, but he also does not hate it. His father was the second African American hired by the postal service in Moss Point Mississippi. Through his prestigious job the family was able to move to the "other side" of town. He recalls playing with a new friend, a white, red-headed child when the boy's father came home and told his son not to play with "n word." His grandmother is buried in Moss Point, MS. It is part of his history, too.
Whites have the expectation of the "happy slave" so we can avoid the cruelty of slavery. It was cruel.
The interviewer, whose name I did not catch, grew up in Trenton. She attended the Afrikan Peoples Action School, "a place that reminded me my Blackness is an asset that intimidates people. I have ownership of this place." I have never heard of this school located a few miles away from me. Searching google, it seems it has since closed. How come I never knew it existed despite living in this area for over three decades and the interviewer was younger than me.
One hundred years ago Carter G. Woodson founded the first Negro History Week, what we think of as Black History Month today. Woodson was the second Black doctor at Harvard University. He wanted to make Black history seen. A battle still taking place a century later.
"We have always told our story," explained Glaude. "We work to fortify the spirits of our children."
On September 2nd he will be holding office hours live at 12:30 on his YouTube channel. He is encouraging everyone to read Souls of Black Folk by WEB Dubois available HERE for free via Project Gutenburg in preparation of this event. He also invited people to join his substack.
~~~
I took too long to write this post. The distance is making my notes make less sense. At the time I was riveted, so I'll include them here. Feel free to stop reading.
Brotherhood of the Sleeper Car Porters was founded in 1925 by A. Philip Randolph as the first African American Union. Glaude brought up Randolph's name a number of times. He is a gentleman I am not familiar with, but based on what I learned that afternoon, I should be as he was a leading labor leader and social activist of the early 20th century.
My notes then say: co author of The Messenger, founding of colored women, NAACP, Harlem Renaissance, Marcus Garvey, Cold War redacts Blacks in global sense, leftist socialist era, Paul Robeson era, Council of African Affairs, connection to African diaspera, 1950's Ghana established as an independent country.
See, my notes are a mess!
Randoph founded the March on Washington Movement to push FDR to desegregate the military. "Read the book, get the information, do knowledge, share knowledge," charged Glaude. We were encouraged to watch his interviews on YouTube.
Snuck into the conversation is that he actually lives in town. He is hyperlocal, and internationally known.
"What can we do as neighbors?" asked a member of the audience. "Because I run my mouth for a living, people think we have the answers," quipped Glaude. He pointed us to Lawrence Neighbors Together Community, one of the co-sponsors of the event. Understand the definition of justice without exception. People get redacted from the question. What are the most pressing issues? Then go after the resources in direct ways. We think politicians can solve the problems, they can't. Identify the most important issues.
The interviewer said she is a fifth generation Lawrentian. She encouraged us to make sure our children see us reading so they are encouraged to read. Get involved with Lawrence Community Center so they can receive grants to get running and functioning. Join Marth Friend's anti-racism book club.
On a higher level, Glaude suggested someone create an app to get children to learn African American History. "They are not lacking, but we need to rewire ourselves to teach them. I have to retool if I'm going to reach the next generation."
Congresswoman Sydney Kalmager-Dove has a plainspeaking YouTube channel Is This Sh*t Legal we were encouraged to listen to.
A sentiment I have heard from other minorities, "I don't want to answer stupid questions." I can't remember who said it, but it bears repeating. The goal is to create a world where people have to be better or not. We need to use our energies to build a world where people like Tr*mp cannot exist without sanctions. Create a world where people have to make a choice.
Racial justice is not a philanthropic enterprise. It is not a charitable gesture. That thinking only repeats the sin.
Sit with literature by authors such as Toni Morisson's Belevoved and Jesmyn Ward. It is not a guarantee your heart will be filled with justice, but it is a start.
Another question from the audience: "How do you feel we should have done differently after the Civil War?" Glaude pointed out we had radical reconstruction and and extraordinary expectation to transform the nation. The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were passed. Blacks were given the reigns of power until whites claimed they overreached. "The answer was there, but the country betrayed it. From that moment, race has been the center of politics."
Glaube has been interviewed by CNN. He commented "my mom is always watching and she knows if I am lying. She tells him 'people love you because you tell the truth. Try to be consistent.'"
People tell him "this isn't America," to which he had a very succinct timeline reflecting the answer that yes, it is. "How many times are you going to say that?"
James Baldwin said "the devil is not some aberration, all we need to do is look in the mirror and we might find him. Humans are capable of extreme evil, and are walking miracles."
There is still hope.
The next day he was slated to be on a panel at Newark's Bethany Baptist Church's Courageous Conversations about the role of the church in our 250th years. Once a month they sit together in worship and people talk about what matters to each other.
To find hope he teaches a course on Baldwin each spring semester. "Love shines through. Hatred must never have the last word." As one of his students wrote in her paper, which he was granted permission to use in his book, "Hope is our insistence to tell the truth."
Go and feel inspired.
