Join us for a three-session virtual seminar exploring Pulitzer Prize-winning, bestselling author Isabel Wilkerson’s book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents (2020). Dr. David Greenhaw, president emeritus of Eden Theological Seminary, will lead the seminar on February 1, 8, 15 from 6:30pm-8pm. Due to audience demand, this will be an entirely virtual seminar meeting via Zoom.
Caste is a powerful nonfiction book exploring how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system. The author argues for parallels between the caste systems of India, Nazi Germany, and American racism. Wilkerson weaves history, politics, sociology, psychology, and personal experience to create an engaging, often gut-wrenching narrative.
The first session will provide an overview of the book’s method and argument. In the second, we will dig deeper into the book and explore and many of its powerful anecdotes. In the third session, we will look at the implications of the book for our life together and efforts to overcome racism.
Copies of Caste can be found at St. Louis area public libraries and local bookstores.
Isabel Wilkerson will visit St. Louis on April 12, 2022, as the first guest lecturer of the Annual Staenberg Lecture— a new partnership between Maryville University, philanthropists Michael and Carol Staenberg, and the Staenberg Family Foundation, and the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum. The Staenberg Lecture will focus on contemporary social issues through the lens of the Holocaust, its lessons, and its historical significance.