COMING AUGUST 7
Preorder from your favorite bookseller.
A Long Time Coming
A Lyrical Biography of Race In America from Ona Judge to Barack Obama
A perfect book for adding nonfiction to your English class.
Chronicling the struggles of six Black Americans from different eras, Shepard shows the ways in which each paved the way for those who followed. From freedom seeker Ona Judge, who fled her enslavement by America’s first White president, to Barack Obama, the first Black president. Shepard lyrically tells the story of liberty’s heroes whose love of justice changed America.
REVIEWS
“A Long Time Coming is an unflinching, thoughtful, instructive, and beautiful rendering of the African American journey from slavery to freedom and beyond. Students of all ages will benefit from reading it.”
—RANDALL KENNEDY, Michael R. Klein Professor at Harvard Law School and author of Say It Loud! On Race, Law, History, and Culture
“Ray Anthony Shepard takes readers on an epic journey along Freedom’s road. Readers will finish the book bolstered with understanding and feelings of inspiration and joy.”
—ALICE FAYE DUNCAN, author of Martin, Memphis, and the Mountaintop
“In powerful prose poetry, Ray Anthony Shepard recounts the lives and audacity of Black leaders from Ona Judge to Barack Obama. Learning about them together gives this history of our country’s sins and the people who fought for justice the gravitas it deserves. I pray that this book—painful, revealing, and ultimately inspiring—will disprove forever ‘the lie,’ as Shepard puts it perfectly, ‘that people are color-coded into winners and losers.’ It is a long time coming.”
—DEBORAH HEILIGMAN, author of Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith
“An exquisite historical tapestry, A Long Time Coming, weaves the lives of six heroes to create unflinchingly documentation of American strength, suffering, and survival. Approachable, quick, and brimming with dynamic storytelling.
—ANGELA JOY, author of Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement
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Ray Anthony Shepard is available for appearances & events.
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