There Is a River: The Black Struggle for Freedom in America

by Vincent Harding

This is the story of the violation of Black Africa and the bondage of its peoples in another land. Harding resurrects forgotten heroes and traces the struggle of their descendants to keep the spirit and dreams of an uprooted people alive.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Race, American History, Research, African American

472 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1981

About the author

Vincent Gordon Harding (PhD in History, University of Chicago) was an African-American historian and a scholar of various topics with a focus on American religion and society. A social activist as well, he was perhaps best known for his work with and writings about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whom Harding knew personally. Besides having authored numerous books such as There Is A River, Hope and History, and Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero, he served as co-chairperson of the social unity group Veterans of Hope Project and as Professor of Religion and Social Transformation at Illiff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado.

Reviews

[Hannah Notess · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose this book because it was at the top of the #CharlestonSyllabus page (http://aaihs.org/resources/charleston...), and I recognized the author's name as being the Mennonite pastor who helped Martin Luther King Jr. write his anti-Vietnam speech. Turns out that Vincent Harding was not only all those things but also a historian and an excellent writer. Given that this book wades through a significant amount of American history, beginning with the start of the transatlantic slave trade and continuing to the passage of the 18th amendment, I found it riveting and fast-paced.

We are all familiar with the cliche, "History is written by the winners," but it's really hard to conceive of how true that is if you're in the winning group (like me, as a white American) and until you read a work of history that's written from a different perspective. This book starts with the premise that nobody wants to be enslaved (rather obvious when you think about it) and that enslaved Africans were to do anything they could to resist the horrors of captivity (again, obvious when you think about it). But because of the economic benefit, whites were going to do anything they could to justify the abuse of power. And they did.

Starting from that perspective sheds a different light on the history I learned in school. Like, I remember learning that there was a 3/5 rule, that a slave counted as 3/5 of a person, and that seems horrible and bizarre. But not until reading this book did the weight of "HOLY CRAP, SLAVERY WAS LITERALLY WRITTEN INTO OUR CONSTITUTION THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT LIBERTY" really sink in. Taken from that perspective, I suddenly become very suspicious of anyone who takes the view that nowadays, what we want when it comes to the constitution is to pursue the "founders' original intent." Part of their original intent was to preserve slavery. Really. Not so great.

The other challenging this about this book (in a very good way) is that it questions the desire I have to imagine myself on the "good side" in history. Reading accounts of how again and again blacks seeking freedom were pushed to the side and denied equality even by white abolitionists who were supposed to be their allies, it really sheds a new light both on the abolitionist movement of the day and the role of white people in current movements like #BlackLivesMatter. White allies had better not be too quick to congratulate ourselves on our high moral standing, and we should probably spend more of our time shutting up and listening to people of color rather than putting ourselves at the center of the discussion as we are wont to do.

Seriously, I feel like a tiny portion of my personal ignorance has been remedied after reading this book. There are dozens, maybe even hundreds, of books on the #CharlestonSyllabus list. Imagine how much I could learn if I read them all?

I only wish there was a sequel.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. Amazing! Harding's book is the harrowing story of the Black freedom struggle from the beginnings of slavery through to Reconstruction. The figure of the river of struggle allows him to reveal not just the main "crests" of the struggle - the Conventions, underground railroad, agitators like Douglass and Delany - but also its "undercurrents" - the clandestine religious and literacy meetings in the deep South, personal acts of rebellion here and there, and the myriad passions and contradictions opened up by the Civil War.

This is not dry, 'big picture' history, but so obviously a political-spiritual endeavor of the author, an act of homage and resistance.

I rarely finish books, let along reread them. But I can imagine picking this up again.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone who's interested in American History. Along with Howard Zinn, I'd say, this really will change the way you look at our history.

[Dustin Mailman · Rating 5 out of 5]

For close to 10 years people I deeply love and trust have recommended Vincent Harding’s work. I began this book while on a pilgrimage to Montgomery, perfectly complementing a spiritual exploration of mass incarceration, civil rights, racism and white supremacy, and the legacy of slavery and segregation in the South.

This book is equal parts sobering, poetic, theological, and historical. This book met me right as it was intended to. Though at times my retention of dates and names was inconsistent, this is the most comprehensive and accessible telling of black history in the United States, starting with chattel enslavement.

Read this book. Now. This is the history that is overlooked, ignored, and gaslit into oblivion. The particular attention to early black revolutionary activity, the disillusionment of early (and contemporary) white America, and the personal narratives of persons who were enslaved and/or newly emancipated painted a robust picture of the history inherited by North Americans today.

[Sowande' · Rating 5 out of 5]

EXCELLENT! Written in a poetic like fashion. This book further peaked my interest on the black experience and ultimately shaped my own current work on slavery, etc.

[Ebony Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book which gives historical information. I love history and gaining knowledge. This book gives you both! Thank you Vincent Harding for giving us this wonderful book to read!

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 1981 book tells the history of slavery in America. Unlike most history books relating these events, Harding tells everything from the viewpoint of the Africans ripped from their native land and forced into labor against their will. He concentrates his efforts on the period from 1820 to 1865, and details all the many ways in which these nascent African-Americans fought against the institution, and against the wider racist society which permeated even the northern states where bondage was not legal. There were organized rebellions, individual acts of resistance, conventions to try to find solutions, and a wide array of hopes and plans to create freedom for people who did not see a way of achieving it in this country. Eventually, the Civil War came, and freedom from slavery was achieved; for a brief moment, hopes were raised that this freedom would lead to complete equality. Harding ends this powerful book with the ways Andrew Johnson ripped these hopes from southern blacks. The struggle would continue. It has not ended.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

An essential perspective for those interested in human liberation in general, liberation of the blacks in America, the history of racism in America, the abolitionist movement, life in America in the antebellum years, the civil war and its immediate aftermath.

Harding proposes and well defends the contention that blacks had more to do with freeing themselves than receiving the gift of freedom.

I had this book on my shelf since the 80's. I always thought that I'd read it, but for the life of me couldn't remember what he'd said. Turns out I remembered the introduction and perhaps the first chapter, that's all. Maybe I had to read a slew of white authors such as the esteemed Eric Foner before I could locate the characters Harding so animatedly presents. It's a good read. It should be read, even 42 years after it was published.

[Emma Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredibly fundamental and foundational book for the Africana studies discipline. This is not written as a usual history book, it is more holistic, including many many stories and examples. Harding does not rely on dates, he relies on the ample stories and folktales to tell the story of Black struggle. The politics and the story of many notable Black leaders is told through this novel; if you don’t know much of WEB Du Bois, Frederick Douglass, H. Ford Douglas, Martin Delaney, etc you will not only know their name but their contributions. Absolutely an amazing book that will hopefully lead you to community and better understanding.

[Suzanne]

Tisch & 10.5 E 185.615 H28 Suggested by Mel King

[Larry Lamar Yates · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, in my experience, the essential book on this topic, convincing, factual and exciting to read. It is a beautiful book.

[Mariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this is a must read. I gave it 4 stars because it is incomplete. The author intended to write a sequel.

[Cws]

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Black History Month 2015