Book Talk: William H. Lamar — Ancestors - with Dana A. Williams & Michael Eric Dyson

Watch author William H. Lamar's book talk and reading at Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C.

As the pastor of one of the oldest Black churches in Washington, DC, William H. Lamar IV has a deep connection to his own ancestors and the ancestral legacy of his church in a city built of ancestral political voices and their ideologies. Drawing on this experience, he offers readers a new perspective on the role that our ancestors play in shaping our lives and communities, for without acknowledging their importance, we cannot move forward morally, ethically, spiritually, or politically.

Lamar examines family ancestors, political leaders, and voices of Scripture, and draws from African and African American historical ancestors to show how they shape our identities and moral compasses. By choosing our ancestors, we choose the stories we tell about ourselves and choose the kind of humans we want to be. This is more than a feel-good notion; Lamar writes, "This is a matter of life. This is a matter of death."

Rev. William H. Lamar IV is a writer and pastor of the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, DC. A leading voice on the intersection of faith, culture, and politics, Lamar has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The ReidOut with Joy Reid, NPR, PBS NewsHour, and PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton. Lamar received his MDiv from Duke University and extends the ancestral legacy of worship, liberation, and service that has animated the Black church for nearly two centuries.

Lamar is in conversation with Dana A. Williams, Professor of African American Literature and the Dean of the Graduate School at Howard University. She is the author of Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship, which was an NPR Spring Pick, and has edited several books. Her work has been published in prestigious journals, including PMLA, CLA Journal, African American Review, Early American Literature, American Literary History, and the Langston Hughes Review. She co-directs the Center for Medical Humanities and Health Justice, a Mellon Foundation-funded collaboration between Howard and Georgetown universities.

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