Sunday Morning Worship
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
July 28, 2024
11:00 AM ET
Preacher: Rev. Dr. Jennifer L. Carner
Sunday Morning Worship
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
July 28, 2024
11:00 AM ET
Preacher: Rev. Dr. Jennifer L. Carner
Join the Riverside Book Club online the 2nd Saturday monthly for a time of fellowship and lively discussion over a monthly book selection.
Join us online on Saturday, June 8, 2024, at 11:00 AM for a meeting of the Riverside Book Club and Maranatha LGBTQ Ministry to discuss the award-winning novel “Giovanni’s Room” by James Baldwin. The discussion will be led by Reggie Evans.
Understanding the significance of the novel requires considering the historical context in which it was written. Published in 1956, just nine years after World War II ended—a war marked by Adolf Hitler’s genocide of over six million Jews and other minorities—Baldwin’s work emerges in a world grappling with profound social and political upheaval.
Baldwin wrote “Giovanni’s Room” during a time of escalating non-violent resistance against racial segregation in America, a period that would soon witness the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Robert Kennedy, and numerous lesser-known activists. Faced with intense racial tensions, Baldwin moved to France seeking solace from his frustrations, particularly those stemming from the pervasive hatred and violence against same-gender loving individuals—a hostility that would eventually ignite the Stonewall Inn riots on June 28, 1969.
In “Giovanni’s Room,” Baldwin delves into the personal lives of same-gender loving couples, exposing the homophobia that forced them into hiding and endangered their lives, both in the United States and abroad. Upon his return to America, Baldwin became a significant figure in the Civil Rights Movement, collaborating with leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Bayard Rustin, and participating in the 1963 March on Washington.
The novel, available online, in e-book format, and in paperback, will also be offered at the Riverside Gift Center. Presenting the discussion will be Reggie Evans.
The Author is James Baldwin. For information, click here
The presenter is Reggie Evans. For information, click here
