You cannot talk about liberation without taking a good hard look at the religious beliefs that have upheld discrimination. This book is a great way for individuals to consider and re-consider all they have been taught about God and Christianity.

Absolutely recommend -- this is well written and honestly a must read. After following Jasmine Holmes on social media, I found out about this book and was so glad to be able to read it. Seeking to look back at history and reclaim it through the racial lens. Scripture is throughout. What the book aims to do, it accomplishes: how black dignity shaped America. 5-star read and HIGHLY recommend.

Challenging, heart-rending, and incredible. This book is among the best I've read on civil rights and American race relations, if not the best.

I learned so much from this book. The author highlighted black people fighting against slavery and racism who I either had not even heard of or knew very little about. I appreciated how she detailed the odds black women were against and how they still kept fighting for their rights. Throughout the book she highlights the Imago Dei in people and how that was the inspiration and support for those fighting against slavery and racism. Highly recommend.

This was a good read, a hard read, an enlightening read. The way that Jasmine guides the reader through the source material was well-done. This book will educate, challenge, and cause deep reflection (at least it did for me).

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Full of quotes from primary sources, Jasmine L. Holmes writes a story of the history of the Black residents of America. This book if full of history that isn't often told in history books and shows history from both sides. Through this book, readers will learn about people, events, and beliefs that will leave them thinking. Recommend this book!

"America is complex, bearing its shame in tandem with its accomplishments, its pride right alongside its shortcomings."

"Because people made in the image of God were made to stand on equal footing alongside each other before the God of heaven."

"They declared they were made in the image of God before a world that refused to be convinced. And they demanded their seat at the table anyway."

I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I am continually impressed by Jasmine's growth as a writer. I've owned all of her books and reviewed the most recent 3. It's very clear that Crowned with Glory was a passion project for Jasmine. I loved the beautiful way she showed the strength of the imago dei even through the hardship Black Americans have endured. Of course, if you're at all familiar with Jasmine, you wouldn't be surprised to see there's a prominent mention of the Fortens and Grimkes, which was my favorite part. I highly highly highly recommend this book. It will educate you, challenge you, and prompt you to think deeper.

I have learned so much from the dedication to research that Jasmine L. Holmes brings to her writings. I have learned about the importance of primary resources and Crowned with Glory is no different. It brings together stories of Black Americans that have often been forgotten in our white-washed history. I’m grateful for this book and its reminder that Black Americans have always been in the beauty of our history and fighting for justice. Thank you for the opportunity to let their voices shine and all we can learn from them.

(4/5 stars) Every time I read a work by Jasmine Holmes I feel encouraged, challenged, and like I have a fuller view of God. I would describe this (and she probably would as well) as Holmes' most academic work - a historical survey of American abolitionists and black Christians who demanded that the imago Dei be honored through acts of mental, spiritual, and physical resistance. It is very clear that Holmes has done her research, and her book contains SO MANY primary and secondary historical sources. What a wealth of information! I will definitely have to pick up a copy of this one to see the included figures (the advanced copy noted their locations but didn't place them in line in the text).

I have wanted to read Jasmine L. Holmes since my sister recommended her, so when the opportunity arose to review her new book I was thrilled. I don’t know what I was expecting when I began reading Crowned with Glory, but I did not get the book I was expecting – I got something better. I constantly felt like I was drinking from a fire hydrant as I took in vast amounts of information; had my copy been physical it would have been laden with post-its and notes in the margin. Currently, my ebook is heavily highlighted, and as the summary states, I want to read this book again.

Crowned with Glory is a rich resource on the history of Black Americans fighting for their freedom through physical, mental, and spiritual resistance. The text is heavy on quotes because Holmes wants the enslaved and those who fought so desperately against slavery to speak for themselves. In the afterword, Holmes’ shares her reasoning for this, and it was an honorable decision. Holmes aptly presents this vast wealth of information to the reader while glorifying God in the process.

This book was a deeply emotional read for me while also managing to pluck at my academic leanings. I found each section devastating, specifically the ones focused on Black women, wives, and mothers who were enslaved. I could not separate my own identity as a wife and mother from these horrific stories, and I know they will stay with me always.

If you are a history buff, read this book. If you are a Christian, read this book. If you have questions about the Civil War, read this book. You know what? Just read this book. Holmes has constructed a beautiful, tragic, hopeful, God-honoring book that shines light on the beginning of race relations in our nation. I look forward to reading more of her work in the future. Crowned with Glory is available now. A big thank you to Netgalley and Baker Publishing Group for the opportunity.

So much richness of primary source material! Absolutely wonderful stories and beautiful words. Hard truths are found here; read with an open heart. We get to see the experience of both Black men and women, Christianity, and a basic introduction to some of the nuances of things we may have reduced to textbook paragraph face value (Reconstruction, civil rights, etc). I cannot recommend it highly enough.

"I share these words to point out that they are part of a robust legacy that has so often been forgotten and obscured by focusing our historical inquiry on the oppressor instead of looking at the fruit so often born by the oppressed. The enslaved had a well-rounded theology of suffering and victory in Christ that modern christians would do well to learn from and emulate."

"Will these pages inspire you in your own life? Absolutely. Have they inspired me in mine? Most assuredly. But the inspiration isn't the central facet of the story we are telling here, because even that inspiration can center our experience of history more than the important history itself and that is never my intention."

The description said:
America was founded on the concept of the innate and inalienable rights of humankind. Many Christians see an echo of the imago Dei--that every human being carries the image of God--within those ideals. Yet these rights were systemically withheld from the Black and enslaved residents of this country for centuries. Through it all, Black people have proclaimed the truth of their dignity and personhood in powerful and profound ways.

Crowned with Glory collects many of the writings of these men and women, both familiar and lesser-known, to shine a light on what has always been there: an enormous movement of Black Americans demanding the liberty they were promised and deserved. With moving and insightful reflections on these oft-forgotten or suppressed voices, author Jasmine L. Holmes offers a hopeful and encouraging testament to the power of unrelenting cries for justice that will strike a chord with anyone looking for a robust Christian history of resistance.

Holmes delivered on the promise of the description. I appreciated the balance of little known Black women-both freed and enslaved- who were mentioned in this publication. However, I would have liked a more womanist analysis of the intersections of the Black women presented here, Christianity, and social justice. I would have also liked a little more discussion of Imago Dei, but I did like how it was grounded as a paradigm with which to view enslavement in America. I do recommend this book for scholars studying American history.

My thoughts on this book feel hard to pin down, so bear with me. Not because this was a bad book by any means but because I want to do it justice.

Let me start with, I am very glad to have read this book and I highly recommend it. Ms. Holmes focuses in on the stories and words of black men and women who fought against slavery and fought for the rights of the Imago Dei in themselves and in each other. I so appreciated getting to read what they said for themselves, while also having Ms. Holmes pop in to help center the story and give context to understand better where each individual was coming from. I know she states this as her goal in the afterword and I think she balanced this incredibly well.

I think this is a book that is sorely lacking on the shelves of (white) Christians. Many of these stories and lives were ones I had never heard of, many of the instances that take place have been washed away - very intentionally - by history. This was an amazing jumping off point for myself, and I'm sure for many others who find themselves realizing the education they were given was incredibly lacking in this department of history. It has helped me to better hone in on what I want to continue learning about, as well as the avenues that I can use to seek out more information.

I learned a lot from this book, and I loved getting to hear the stories of brothers and sisters in Christ that have been ignored. I would like to thank Ms. Holmes for putting forth this labor of love. I will definitely be picking up Carved in Ebony and many other books I can find on these topics.

I received this copy from Netgalley for an honest review.

Thank you so much to Baker Books and Net Galley for the chance to read this e-arc!

Excellent resource for educators or anyone wanting to learn more about Black History!
Jasmine gives the reader so many stories and quotes from lesser known and rarely quoted figures, mentioning contemporaries, even contemporary abolitionists, and then juxtaposing them.

She says in the afterword that she had to try to make this a book that wasn't simply hundreds of quotations from these historical figures, but honestly, I would have read that!

This book guides the reader through subjects such as the struggles of the free Black woman, the fight for education (during and after slavery), the enslaver's "Christianity" (the role of religion in perpetuation of white supremacy, during and after slavery), Reconstruction and more!

This book is so good. Jasmine Holmes tells the history of black Americans that many of us might be unfamiliar with. I learned much from reading these stories and found myself challenged. I definitely recommend this book.