Never Forget Our People Were Always Free

A Parable of American Healing

By: Benjamin Todd Jealous

Narrated by: Benjamin Todd Jealous

Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

“One of the nation’s most prominent civil rights leaders” (Washington Post), a New York Times best-selling author, community organizer, investigative journalist, Ivy League professor, and former head of the NAACP, Ben Jealous draws from a life lived on America’s racial fault line to deliver a series of gripping and lively parables that call on each of us to reconcile, heal, and work fearlessly to make America one nation.

Never Forget Our People Were Always Free illuminates for each of us how the path to healing America’s broken heart starts with each of us having the courage to heal our own.

The son of parents who had to leave Maryland because their cross-racial marriage was illegal, Ben Jealous’ lively, courageous, and empathetic storytelling calls on every American to look past deeply-cut divisions and recognize we are all in the same boat now. Along the way Jealous grapples with hidden American mysteries, including:

• Why do white men die from suicide more often than Black men die from murder?
• How did racial profiling kill an American president?
• What happens when a Ku Klux Klansman wrestles with what Jesus actually said?
• How did Dave Chappelle know the DC Snipers were Black?
• Why shouldn't the civil rights movement give up on rednecks?
• When is what we have collectively forgotten about race more important than what we actually know?
• What do the most indecipherable things our elders say tell us about ourselves?

Told as a series of parables, Never Forget Our People Were Always Free features intimate glimpses of political, and faith leaders as different as Jack Kemp, Stacey Abrams, and the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu and heroes as unlikely as a retired constable, a female pirate from Madagascar, a long lost Irishman, a death row inmate, and a man with a confederate flag over his heart.

More than anything, Never Forget Our People Were Always Free offers listeners hope America’s oldest wounds can heal and her oldest divisions be overcome.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Benjamin Todd Jealous (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Irresistible Read

This book tells the compelling story of freedom as we know it from our African roots, stifled by slavery leading to a complicated history of thriving and healing.

Moved me to my core.

Beautiful touching story with humor and history. Showed me a side of history that should be taught to all Americans. Thank you for sharing.

Far from forgettable!

A highly relevant and easily digestible work for anyone seeking to add to their understanding of current/national events. The author pushes aside the haze of oversimplification that accompanies our ultra-polarized political and social discourse. A refreshing and relatable literary achievement.

Loved it! New perspective and insights'

I loved the thought provoking, wisdom and love that was wrapped up in this story!

Enjoyed the stories of family and history

I enjoyed viewing family and history from a different point of view. I liked the details used to support the stories.

Hopeful, inspiring and informative

Jealous shows the importance and power of multiracial, multi-class organizing through the story of his family and his own life. In an increasingly polarized country and world, more people would benefit from learning the lessons displayed in this book. While appropriately heavy at times, the book is also just an interesting and inspiring read.