Book Review: “All God’s Children: How Confronting Buried History Can Build Racial Solidarity” by Terence Lester

All God’s Children seeks to help heal racial division by reawakening a knowledge of Black history in its readers.

The way we tell stories matters, and when history is excised or whitewashed, that can create a new narrative that prevents racial justice from happening. Terence Lester confronts this directly, not only noting how everyone has a history (43-45) but also how the way we shape and re-shape narratives can have real world impacts. For example, when people refuse to see parts of history that may be unflattering, that can create divides between groups of people and make it more difficult to find reconciliation (53ff).

Alongside the discussions of history and reconciliation, Lester notes that God has called us to justice. Helpful charts and discussions of solidarity and how to build reconciliation into daily life are offered (eg. 74-75). Part of this includes an understanding that some history was taught through lies and distortions. It is not “erasing history” to bring forth real, firsthand accounts of history that show that much of what was learned is incorrect (92-102). Lester also moves the story forward into how we can engage in our own background and diversity in order to foster communities that bring about change.

All God’s Children provides a much needed way forward in figuring out how to read and contemplate history in the context of racial solidarity. Highly recommended.

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