Celebrated academic Henry Louis Gates, Jr., explores the meaning of the Black Church in America, beginning with the transatlantic slave trade and its intersection with Christianity. Dr. Gates considers African American religion's importance in the Black community and how white supremacy has fought against this incubator of political leaders, musicians and speakers, from early surveillance and bombings to the recent mass shooting at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. This book is a brilliant examination and illumination of the Black church's centrality to Black life in the US.