Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
More Than I Imagined: What a Black Man Discovered about the White Mother He Never Knew

More Than I Imagined: What a Black Man Discovered about the White Mother He Never Knew

Blake, John

Hardcover

Biographies GeneralChristian LivingGeneral Racism & Ethnic Studies

Publisher Price: $27.00

ISBN10: 0593443047
ISBN13: 9780593443040
Publisher: Convergent Books
Published: May 2 2023
Pages: 240
Weight: 0.85
Height: 0.88 Width: 5.84 Depth: 8.52
Language: English
An award-winning journalist tells the riveting (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) story of his quest to reconcile with his white mother and the family he'd never met--and how faith brought them all together.

A compelling and courageous journey that bears witness to the realities of systemic racism, the complexity of identity within that system, and the possibilities of reconciliation.--Robin DiAngelo, New York Times bestselling author of White Fragility

WINNER: The Christopher Award; The Illumination Award; The Nonfiction Book Award; Georgia Center's A Book All Georgians Should Read; The Nautilus Award; Georgia Author of the Year Award

John Blake grew up in a notorious Black neighborhood in inner-city Baltimore that became the setting for the HBO series The Wire. There he became a self-described closeted biracial person, hostile toward white people while hiding the truth of his mother's race. The son of a Black man and a white woman who met when interracial marriage was still illegal, Blake knew this much about his mother: She vanished from his life not long after his birth, and her family rejected him because of his race.

But at the age of seventeen, Blake had a surprise encounter that uncovered a disturbing family secret. This launched him on a quest to reconcile with his white family. His search centered on two questions: Where is my mother? and Where do I belong? More Than I Imagined is Blake's propulsive true story about how he answered those questions with the help of an interracial church, a loving caregiver's sacrifice, and an inexplicable childhood encounter that taught him the importance of forgiveness.

Blake covered some of the biggest stories about race in America for twenty-five years before realizing that facts don't change people, relationships do. He owes this discovery to radical integration, which was the only way forward for him and his family--and is the only way forward for America as a multiracial democracy. More Than I Imagined is a hopeful story for our difficult times.

Praise for More Than I Imagined

An incredibly moving memoir that both examines and complicates our understanding of race in America today, More Than I Imagined is overflowing with empathy and full of humanity.--Clint Smith, New York Times bestselling author of How the Word Is Passed

This is a book of gutsy hope and not of despair, of reconciliation and not of hatred. Both sides of the racial divide need the voice that Blake is uniquely qualified to offer.--Philip Yancey, author of What's So Amazing About Grace?

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