Keynote
A stirring consideration of homeownership, fatherhood, race, faith, and the history of an American city
Book Title
Shelter
Subtitle
A Black Tale of Homeland, Baltimore
Cover Image
- “[Shelter] is told in wide-ranging essays that touch on subjects including the joys and challenges of Black fatherhood, the overlooked history of [Jackson's] new, mostly White neighborhood of Homeland, his connection to his childhood church, the perils of Black upward mobility, the pain of divorce, and the everyday challenges of homeownership. The book is by turns searing, informative and funny, as Jackson explores both serious issues and absurdities of his life and his city.”—Michael A. Fletcher, The Washington Post
Body
In 2016, Lawrence Jackson accepted a new job in Baltimore, searched for schools for his sons, and bought a house. It would all be unremarkable but for the fact that he had grown up in West Baltimore and now found himself teaching at Johns Hopkins, whose vexed relationship to its neighborhood, to the city and its history, provides fodder for this captivating memoir in essays.
With sardonic wit, Jackson describes his struggle to make a home in the city that had just been convulsed by the uprising that followed the murder of Freddie Gray. His new neighborhood, Homeland—largely White, built on racial covenants—is not where he is “supposed” to live. But his purchase, and his desire to pass some inheritance on to his children, provides a foundation for him to explore his personal and spiritual history, as well as Baltimore’s untold stories. Each chapter is a new exploration: a trip to the Maryland shore is an occasion to dilate on Frederick Douglass’s complicated legacy, an encounter at a Hopkins shuttle-bus stop becomes a meditation on public transportation and policing, and Jackson’s beleaguered commitment to his church opens a pathway to reimagine an urban community through jazz.
Shelter is an extraordinary biography of a city and a celebration of our capacity for domestic thriving. Jackson’s story leans on the essay to contain the raging absurdity of Black American life, establishing him as a maverick, essential writer.
With sardonic wit, Jackson describes his struggle to make a home in the city that had just been convulsed by the uprising that followed the murder of Freddie Gray. His new neighborhood, Homeland—largely White, built on racial covenants—is not where he is “supposed” to live. But his purchase, and his desire to pass some inheritance on to his children, provides a foundation for him to explore his personal and spiritual history, as well as Baltimore’s untold stories. Each chapter is a new exploration: a trip to the Maryland shore is an occasion to dilate on Frederick Douglass’s complicated legacy, an encounter at a Hopkins shuttle-bus stop becomes a meditation on public transportation and policing, and Jackson’s beleaguered commitment to his church opens a pathway to reimagine an urban community through jazz.
Shelter is an extraordinary biography of a city and a celebration of our capacity for domestic thriving. Jackson’s story leans on the essay to contain the raging absurdity of Black American life, establishing him as a maverick, essential writer.
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About the Author
Credit: Christian B.S. Allen
Praise
- A Kirkus Best Book of 2022
- "Not quite a memoir or a typical collection of essays, Jackson's book skews biographical . . . its pages filled densely with antebellum histories, reflections on race relations—some of which are self-directed and unsparing—and revelations on the trials and triumphs of homeownership as a single, Black father."—Angela Ajayi, The Star Tribune
- “An extraordinary dual portrait of the author and his hometown—angry, tender, incisive, and bracingly eloquent.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
- "Shelter is written in sharply beautiful, descriptive prose. Jackson’s love of language is woven into each sentence, alongside his understanding of the current moment as informed by the depth of all that came before."—Kristi King, Christian Century
