The Spirit of Justice

True Stories of Faith, Race, and Resistance

De: Jemar Tisby

Narrado por: Jemar Tisby

Read by the author.

The Black History You Never Knew: Uncovering Unsung Heroes in the Struggle for Racial Justice.

The Spirit of Justice reveals the stories of the people who fought against racism and agitated for justice—and what we can learn from their example, their suffering, their methods, and their hope.

How is it that people still work for change after continuously seeing the worst of humanity and experiencing the most demoralizing setbacks? What keeps them going? It is that spirit of justice that rises up "like a war horse," as Myrlie Evers-Williams famously said. It is a sense in the hearts of people who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

In this book, award-winning author Jemar Tisby will open your eyes to the "pattern of endurance" in the centuries-long struggle for Black freedom in America. Through a historical survey of the nation from its founding to the present day, this book gives real-world examples of people who opposed racism, how they did it, what it cost, and what they gained for themselves and others.

For those who were galvanized by Tisby's call to action in his acclaimed The Color of Compromise, this book will inspire you to see past the complicity of the church and gain the determination to join the fight for racial justice, no matter the cost.

As Tisby writes, "The Spirit of justice is always at work to inspire followers of Christ to undertake acts of liberation and bear witness to the good news of their savior."

The photos can be found in the audiobook companion PDF download.

The Spirit of Justice Still Speaks

I have been twice blessed by Dr. Tisby. With his first book, "The Color or Compromise" his examples of what he calls in a recent interview "white people behaving badly", convict me. Now, with The Spirit of Justice, he inspires or "in-Spirits" me with what I would call "black people behaving courageously". In the sweep of Jemar's writing he both exposes and encourages. He calls me, as a white male, to both repent and to recommit.

Jemar acknowledges early on in the book that those he profiles (like the characters we find in the Bible) are not perfect. Yet, the Spirit of Justice, the One he embraces as the Holy Spirit, speaks in and through each personality.

I study history as an undergrad at the University of Michigan, So, I especially appreciate Jemar's effort to go beyond a secular examination of events. He finds the faith that fuels each figure. His choice to include William J. Seymour illustrates. Dr. Tisby sees a biblical faith at the root of the racially and economically diverse Azuza Street Revival. He also acknowledges that a misunderstanding of that faith causes the backlash or "whitelash" that inevitably follows.

I meet in Dr. Tisby's book some familiar friends. He also introduces me to some folks I wouldn't get to meet without his help. He gathers a diverse cast of characters. Yet, he also highlights four themes which tie them together:

1) Faith of a Franciscan sister
2) Courage of a Fannie Lou Hamer ( the 20th of 20 children)
3) Imagination of the Harvard Law School trained Charles Hamilton Houston
4) Resilience of Myrlie Evers-Williams after the racially motivated murder of her husband Medgar Evers. (Note the source of the title of the book)

Dr. Tisby draws on examples from a couple of centuries of Unites States history, Then, he concludes with examples of contemporary "Creators" through whom he believes the Spirit of Justice speaks. It is a refreshing and generous kind of footnoting.

Dr. Tisby writes the book with this question in mind: "How do you keep going when it looks like you are not winning?" By book's end, I, and perhaps you will as well, have the beginning of some answers.

Inspiration to live out God's plan for justice/righteousness

A powerful, infotmative, and inspiring truth-telling account of heroes who were/are committed to imitating Jesus...

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, Luke 4:18

The storytelling of this author.

I thoroughly enjoyed this historical perspective on the spirit of justice and how the author demonstrated that each person possessed courage, strength, and tenacity in the face of and in the fight against injustice. I would definitely recommend The Spirit of Justice to others. The book was eye-opening and refreshing.

The Spirit of Justice - An Inspiring Reminder that we are Not Alone in the Struggle

Jemar Tisby elevates the details of the lives and impact of both lesser known and well documented actors in Justice work from the past through the present. In doing so he shows that we who take up the mantle of this holy call are not alone and are not without the same divine and human resources despite the sometimes overwhelming challenges we face. I was particularly encouraged by the breadth of diverse backgrounds in the individuals he featured. There were former slaves, formerly incarcerated, immigrants, women, single mothers, and persons rising from poverty and treacherous oppression who achieved amazing success despite the odds. The question I came away with was if they could do it, why can’t I being a person who in many ways has much more privilege and power? The key ingredients of courage and imagination helped all to have the resilience to move forward to face an unknown future. Thank you Dr. Tisby for this remarkable look into the inner lives of these heroes of Justice! I’m sharing this resource as broadly as possible, especially now as we face an era of a decline in civil and human rights in the U.S. and around the globe.

Stories of resistance.

his is a natural next book for Jemar Tisby. His first book was a survey of the ways that the church in the US has been complicit with racism. The second book was a response to the question, “What should we do now” that he kept getting from people who read the first book. And this third book is designed as inspiration for continuing to work for justice.

I am fairly well-read in civil rights history and there were both well-known figures and people I did not know here. The balance between the known and the unknown (or lesser known) was good. You can’t ignore major figures like Martin Luther King Jr, but in some ways, those figures are less inspiring because they have become “saints” of the movement. The lesser-known figures I think are more inspiring because they worked toward justice without becoming well-known.

That isn’t to say those lesser-known people are less important. Part of what Tisby is doing is bringing balance to the story. There is a whole chapter on women of the civil rights movement, not because they were completely unknown but because the sexism of the time impacted how we tell stories today. And many behind-the-scenes figures were essential to the organizational and movement-building work that allowed the well-known people to become well-known.

Immediately after finishing The Spirit of Justice, I picked up a new biography of John Lewis. Lewis was well known by his death, but part of what the biography illustrated was the long arc of that fame. Lewis spoke at the 1963 March on Washington, but that was after having led the Nashville student movement and then SNCC. But when he left SNCC leadership, he was only 26. He had several completely separate careers after that. He headed the Voter Education Project for 7 years, and under his leadership VEP registered an estimated 4 million people. He also spent several years working for the federal government in the Carter administration, six years on the Atlanta city council, and 34 years in Congress.

I bring up John Lewis because as well known as he is today, had he done any one of the many things (Freedom Rider, Nashville sit-in movement, SNCC leadership, SCLS board member, voting rights advocate, Selma Marcher, and a main mover of the remembrance of the Selma March, he may not be well-known. But whether he was well-known or not, his contributions mattered.

And that is why The Spirit of Justice matters. This is a book of inspiration to know those who have done the work to bring about the progress toward justice that has been accomplished thus far. While not every person is primarily known as a Christian, the reality is that justice, especially around racial issues in the US has been historically rooted in the Black Church. Most of the figures in The Spirit of Justice were themselves shaped by and a member of the Black Church. There were a lot of complaints about the Color of Compromise not telling the stories of how the church worked toward justice. Those complaints missed the point of the book in highlighting how the church was compromised. The Spirit of Justice now highlights the stories of those who worked for justice. And I think contextually important, it records how often those stories of justice were opposed by other members of the church in the United States.