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Fortune

Order Fortune

Drawing on her lifelong journey to know her family’s history, leading Christian activist Lisa Sharon Harper recovers the beauty of her heritage, exposes the brokenness that race has wrought in America, and casts a vision for collective repair.

Harper has spent three decades researching ten generations of her family history through DNA research, oral histories, interviews, and genealogy. Fortune, the name of Harper’s first nonindigenous ancestor born on American soil, bore the brunt of the nation’s first race, gender, and citizenship laws. As Harper traces her family’s story through succeeding generations, she shows how American ideas, customs, and laws robbed her ancestors—and the ancestors of so many others—of their humanity and flourishing.

Fortune helps readers understand how America was built upon systems and structures in ways that blessed some and cursed others, allowing Americans of European descent to benefit from the colonization, genocide, enslavement, rape, and exploitation of people of color. As Harper lights a path through national and religious history, she clarifies exactly how and when the world broke and shows the way to redemption for us all. The book culminates with a vision of truth telling, reparation, and forgiveness that leads to beloved community. It includes a foreword by Otis Moss III, illustrations, and a glossy eight-page black and white insert featuring photos of Harper’s family.

What others are saying about Fortune

Scroll down for a list of full endorsements!

“A fantastic read and an important work in America’s search for her authentic self.”—Mitch Landrieu, former mayor of New Orleans; founder of E Pluribus Unum

“Lisa Sharon Harper is a masterful storyteller.”—Ruby Sales, founder of the Spirithouse Project

“This book is a triumph!” —Joshua DuBois, White House faith-based advisor to President Barack Obama

“Harper makes clear the work we must accomplish to see that our hope for true equality and justice never fades.”—Jen Hatmaker, New York Times bestselling author

“This is a story that will stay with you.”—Sarah Bessey, editor of New York Times bestseller A Rhythm of Prayer; author of Miracles and Other Reasonable Things

“Harper has the rare gift of speaking honestly in ways that remind you of Tom Skinner, and of speaking intimately in ways that remind you of Maya Angelou.”—Willie James Jennings, Yale Divinity School

“Fortune is necessary reading for us all.”—Kirsten Powers, CNN senior political analyst

After You Order Fortune:
Join us for #BlackFortuneMonth in February 2022

READ
DISCUSS
ACT

Throughout Black History Month 2022, Lisa Sharon Harper invites you to pilgrimage through the story of her family—which is also the story of race in America—from the colonial era through Inauguration Day 2021.

Watch and understand the impact of racial hierarchy on one family, the role of the church in establishing this hierarchy, and the faith implications of Brown, colonized Jesus.

Join Lisa and a diverse community of thought leaders as they consider how to stop simply talking about race and finally repair what it broke in the world.

Learn More and Join the Conversation!

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Looking to go deeper?

A Free Fortune Video Learning Companion and Journal is available for book clubs, church groups, and individual use!

Access the fortune video learning companion and journal 

Excerpt

Excerpt of Fortune by Lisa Sharon Harper

Endorsements

“‘Whoever saves a life,’ the rabbis teach, ‘saves the whole world.’ In this brilliant story of Fortune, which is also the story of America, Lisa Sharon Harper demonstrates how one who narrates a life also tells the story of the whole world. Take and read how one family and the whole world were broken by the lies of race, and how we might be part of repairing the breach.”—Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, president, Repairers of the Breach; author of We Are Called to Be a Movement

“In this powerful and necessary book, Lisa Sharon Harper does something truly unique. By telling the story of her own family, she tells the story of America through a deeply Christian lens. As truthful as it is hopeful, this beautifully written book about resistance, healing, memory, place, history, justice, and identity shows how we are all still shaped by the stories we tell. This is a story that will stay with you.”—Sarah Bessey, editor of New York Times bestseller A Rhythm of Prayer; author of Miracles and Other Reasonable Things

“Lisa Sharon Harper’s Fortune is a brave and brilliant meditation on the shameful legacy of racial injustice in America. This is a seamless narrative brimming with historical reflection, family lore, and spiritual healing. Highly recommended!”—Douglas Brinkley, Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and professor of history, Rice University; author of Rosa Parks: A Life

“Lisa Sharon Harper is one of the most influential leaders in the US and across the globe. This is her most important book yet. She unifies her own family history with her insightful theology. She names the sinful, demonic force of racism, but she also casts a vision for how we can heal our wounds from it. Pure fire from beginning to end.”—Shane Claiborne, author, activist, and cofounder of Red Letter Christians

“Fortune by Lisa Sharon Harper is an arresting, moving, and altogether remarkable book. The author—one of the most influential faith leaders in America and around the globe—deftly combines her own story with a broader narrative of race, theology, and our country’s tragic history. This book is a triumph! It should be read in living rooms, classrooms, and anywhere else where people seek passion, purpose, and truth.”—Joshua DuBois, White House faith-based advisor to President Barack Obama; bestselling author of The President’s Devotional

“The magic of Lisa is this: she tells the whole truth of our historical existence as a nation built upon racist structures, ideologies, and laws. In Fortune, Harper lays bare the guttural facts about where America sits in the expanse between the bright promise of ‘I Have a Dream’ and the rayless reality of ‘Make America Great Again.’ In the end, she makes clear the work we must accomplish to see that our hope for true equality and justice never fades.”—Jen Hatmaker, New York Times bestselling author, speaker, and host of the For the Love podcast

“In Fortune, Lisa Sharon Harper helps us imagine how the sterile print of America’s first race laws impacted living, breathing people. Particularly in chapter one, her analysis of the life of Fortune Game Magee and her descendants helps us consider how these laws and the constructs of race that they built shaped the course of our nation. You may not agree with everything, but you must consider this work.”—Paul Heinegg, author of Free African Americans of Maryland and Delaware and Free African Americans of North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina

“A beautiful book of great spiritual and emotional depth. Through a mix of memoir and historical excavation, Lisa Sharon Harper conducts a unique, courageous exploration of America’s original sin and its terrible toll on the physical, spiritual, and psychic existence of Black Americans through the struggles of her ancestors. This book will touch your soul.”—Obery M. Hendricks Jr., visiting scholar, Columbia University; author of Christians Against Christianity: How Right-Wing Evangelicals Are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith

“It is difficult to write a book on race, faith, family, reparations, and justice in ways that are compelling to people who are either tired of or resistant to thinking about these matters. Lisa Sharon Harper has written just such a book. Harper has the rare gift of speaking honestly in ways that remind you of Tom Skinner, and of speaking intimately in ways that remind you of Maya Angelou. There are few evangelical writers who match the power of her voice. I am very glad we all get to hear it in print.”—Willie James Jennings, Yale Divinity School

“‘How do we repair what race broke in the world?’ This is what Lisa Sharon Harper challenges us to consider in her new book. She takes us on a journey of discovery using her family history as the vessel, and calls us to contemplate not only the cost and pain of racism but the promise of an ‘America yet to be’—should we dare to confront our past, repair the damage, and demand a future that belongs to us all. A fantastic read and an important work in America’s search for her authentic self.”—Mitch Landrieu, former mayor of New Orleans; founder of E Pluribus Unum

“Lisa Sharon Harper gives us a glimpse of her family’s survival, resistance, and resilience through her bold storytelling. In this epic narrative, she reminds us that our stories aren’t entirely lost to racial injustice. We can reclaim the richness and brilliance of our stories, our people, and our faith. Fortune will have your attention on every page and provoke each of us to explore our family history and discover redemptive visions for ourselves and our family lineage.”—Latasha Morrison, New York Times and ECPA bestselling author of Be the Bridge; president and founder of Be the Bridge

“What is extraordinary about this publication is Lisa’s ability to weave history, family narrative, theology, and creative nonfiction against our contemporary scene. . . . Read from these pages, Beloved, and let this story of family, race, and resistance create anger in your spirit and ultimately inspire your heart to join the work to heal our nation and eventually our world.”—Otis Moss III (from the foreword)

“Lisa Sharon Harper is one of our nation’s most critical voices on the issues of race, gender, faith, and justice. In an era when the world feels unmoored, Harper anchors us in the truth of what brought America to the brink. Through masterful storytelling and deep spiritual reflection, Harper weaves together ten generations of her family story with the story of America. Then she points the way forward to a world where all can flourish. Fortune is necessary reading for us all.”—Kirsten Powers, New York Times bestselling author, CNN senior political analyst, and USA Today columnist

“Lisa Sharon Harper is a masterful storyteller. In Fortune, Harper offers us a front-row seat to the intergenerational story of her family as they moved from being a community of enslaved Africans to free African Americans. With a sociohistorical scalpel and unflinching honesty, she unpacks the sound of her family’s names, an African American family in White America where the bone of racism chokes the breath out of everyone and everything it touches, including democracy itself. Faced with the choice of becoming broken-winged birds from the weight of racism, the men and women in Fortune choose to both fly in it and above it. This is the magnificent breath of fresh air that we inhale from the genius of this African American family.”—Ruby Sales, founder of the Spirithouse Project, long distance runner for justice, social critic, popular educator, and Black folk theologian

With skill and love, Lisa Sharon Harper weaves together nothing less than an epic and true story of race, religion, history, and identity. A small number of books convey such soulfulness and richness with every word, and this is one of them. Fortune recovers the story not just of a single lineage but of whole eras, people groups, and nation-shaping events, and it reads like both memoir and exposé. It rewards the reader with insights and emotion on every page.”—Jemar Tisby, New York Times bestselling author of The Color of Compromise and How to Fight Racism

“Lisa Sharon Harper is a gifted storyteller and one of the voices we need to listen to for America’s future. In telling the story of her ancestors and her personal story, she shows us a deeper way of understanding our nation’s difficult past and offers a way forward toward its diverse and equitable future.”—Rev. Jim Wallis, Endowed Chair in Faith and Justice and founding director of the Georgetown University Center on Faith and Justice; founder and ambassador of Sojourners

“Lisa Sharon Harper is one of our generation’s most important wisdom teachers. Fortune is a compelling invitation to receive the story that has shaped a nation through the story of her family. It makes clear how the stakes in our public conversations about race and justice are both deeply personal and universal: they touch us in the most intimate spaces of our lives.”—Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, author of Revolution of Values and Reconstructing the Gospel

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lisasharper
#tyrenichols was a youth group leader at his churc #tyrenichols was a youth group leader at his church in Sacramento. 

He was a skateboarder. 

He was grieving the death of his father. 

He found hope in sunsets. 

He was a free spirit who broke molds. 

He moved to Memphis because he felt “called.”

He was sick—suffering from Crohn’s Disease. 

So he was 6’3” and only 150 lbs. 

He was only trying to get home.

He was a momma’s boy. 

So, his last word was: “Mom!”

He was lynched

By five Black overseers of the state

And I feel for them. They, too, were likely victims of the state. They likely joined the patrol as a strategy to survive it. They swore to protect the proper order of things—

>>> Protect property. 
>>> Protect businesses. 
>>> Protect the white people who own and run them. 

The rest are expendable.

Black people are expendable. 

But they forgot—they, too, are expendable. 

The white pundits who usually close ranks around white men in blue—who normally demand we wait till both sides are heard—who normally do deep dives into assailants’ previous acts of blue valor—they readily sacrificed these five blue-clad Black lives on the altar of “See we’re reasonable white people. When it’s truly bad, we can say so.”

And they blow the loudest trumpets crying: This is the WORST EVER. 

#philandocastile #ahmaudarbery #sandrabland #michaelbrown and #breonnataylor rise up in a divine quintet and demand: “Don’t do that.” 

The death of Mr. Nichols was heinous—period. 

The death of all the rest was heinous—period. 

Traffic stops should be outlawed—period. 

And cities should commit as many resources to protecting Black lives as they have committed to containing and controlling Blackness.

Then, we must turn to the five, as the Black Chief and DA and family of Tyre have, and demand Justice.

#riptyrenichols
Sooo, this just happened over on the Tweeting box! Sooo, this just happened over on the Tweeting box! 🐥

Thank you, @dpgushee.

#fortunebook 🔗 in bio and stories
Hey Community! Almost 3 years ago, I had this id Hey Community! 

Almost 3 years ago, I had this idea:

“What if a bunch of diverse amazing writers came together to write every Saturday? And what if they listened to each other read the stories they wrote each time? How changed would we be…after soaking in each other’s stories? How might the symphony of our voices rise and change the world?” 

The answer is: A whole lot.

7 books have been written and published in the Global Writers Group writing room! 

Hundreds of commentaries, opEds, blogs, columns—even a song featured during the Super Bowl—were published from this group of prophetic writers! 

We have been changed by each other’s stories. We’ve become better writers through the process of listening and offering and receiving constructive feedback each week. And we are writing another world into being!

This Monday, come glimpse this new world and listen to power-packed stories crafted in our writing room and honed within our Literati writing cohort! 

Join us! 

The Global Writers Group Annual Showcase
January 9, 8pm ET / 5pm PT

Save your seat at the link in my stories or here: bit.ly/GWGShowcase

#writerscommunity #writeanewworld #writingmatters #gwg #showcase @freedomroad.us
This convo is coming!!!! I’m so excited, y’all This convo is coming!!!! I’m so excited, y’all!! 

This Friday night join me at my Kitchen Table for a convo with my good friend,
The magnificent
The fantabulous
The deep as the ocean
The razor sharp
Pastor of souls across the globe

((Drum roll…))

@otismossiii !!! 😃😃😃🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽

OM3 is the author of several books, including his latest best seller, #dancinginthedarkness!!!!

This book spits wisdom between every punctuation mark!! Do not miss this. We need this. 2023 is the year when we choose light and life. Come listen in as Rev. Dr. Otis Moss iii (pastor of @trinitychgo) shares hard earned wisdom for right now and drops practical tips for how you can dance in the darkness this year!! 

See you soon!! 

Friday, Jan 6, 7pm ET / 6pm CT / 4pm PT

#iglive @lisasharper
May 2023 be the year when we reach for each other May 2023 be the year when we reach for each other anew—and rediscover the reality that we are, indeed, one nation. 

#onenation #2023
Thanking God for President Lincoln’s courage 160 Thanking God for President Lincoln’s courage 160 years ago and for the thousands of formerly enslaved and free Black soldiers, including my 2nd Great Grandfather, Henry Lawrence, and his brothers who exercised their agency to push down the wretched walls of antebellum!

Happy Emancipation Day!!! 

#emancipationday #emancipationproclamation #emancipation #fortunebook
Pelé won his third World Cup in 12 years in 1970. Pelé won his third World Cup in 12 years in 1970. I feel privileged to have been alive (only a year old, but who’s counting) when he danced and flew and dribbled and bounced across the field—at the height of his career. 

But, it wasn’t until I was on my way home from Brazil—having fallen in love with the people of that rainbow nation, having waded through the post-Eugenics waters of the last nation on earth to abolish slavery (1888), having understood the absolute brutality of Brazilian slavery, having listened to the testimonies of Black Brazilians scarred by entrench anti-blackness in every single corner of Brazilian consciousness—especially within the church, having walked the cratered dirt road of a favela and felt the menace of machine-gun toting police bearing down on already flattened people, having witnessed the genius and resilience of Black people who never had their Civil Rights Movement, yet dug deep and tapped into their God-ordained human call to exercise dominion on earth and INVENTED everything from the ironing board to the plow to the scale—after bearing witness, I watched the film Pelé on my flight home—and I wept. I got it. 

Pele’s futbol style came straight outta the favela. It was taught to him by his father, who learned it from his father. And that style of play had been banned by the white authorities in Brazilian futbol when Pelé first began to play. But Pelé defied the explicitly white supremacist rules and brought the power of his ancestors with him onto the field. That’s how he won his first World Cup. When he jumped into the arms of his teammates, it was much more than a win. It was a breakthrough celebration of Blackness—one that laid foundations for Brazil’s current reputation as the rainbow nation.

If you haven’t seen #Peléfilm, yet, see it. You will understand why this great man’s passing is about more than the skill of one soccer player. We celebrate Pelé for his courage and stamina and resilience and for the ways he taught all of us the beautiful power of blackness. 

Rest in peace, Pelé. 🙏🏽

#rip #pele
This Christmas, we experienced a #christmasmiracle This Christmas, we experienced a #christmasmiracle.

God showed up and brought light into a difficult day. 

My nephew and niece-in-law, Junie and Irma (who are more like a son and daughter to me), are here for the holiday. Love filled our house that night and helped to push back the darkness. Love sent despair back to hell where it belongs. 

Then last night, Christmas Eve, Rev. Cannon @shawmartini @aecst1792 peached his face off; reminding us of the power of the light. And my mother sang with the church choir for the first time. It was beautiful. 

Christmas is not about gifts, though we give them. It is about overflowing love and the power of light. Love and light—they are the gifts. Darkness and despair try to overcome them, but they cannot. 

They never could—not in Genesis, not in John 1, not even on the cross. 

#lightwins #merrychristmas
Repost from Christmas 2021: ““Cast down the m Repost from Christmas 2021:

““Cast down the mighty, lift the lowly. Fill the hungry, and send the rich away.” 

While this might sound like a call-and-response protest chant, these words lay foundations for Luke’s gospel. Brown Mary visits her elder cousin, Brown Elizabeth. She breaks into song and prophesies. In the context of colonization by white supremacist Rome, Brown Mary foresees a time when the low will be brought high and the high will be brought low. Mary saw a new way of living together in the world where injustices are made right. 

Those who live in high places without God could fear the coming of Brown Jesus. But what if Mary does not describe a reversal? What if she describes a leveling? What if she describes a reordering of our world such that all, at least have enough? And no one is exploited for sake of the few who belong? What if that is the world she foresaw when she understood the fortune of her womb?”

#FortuneBook #linkinbio or at FortuneBook.us

#advent #adventprayer 
#familyhistory #genealogy #race #repair #truthseekers #truthteller #reparations #restitution #forgiveness #belovedcommunity #beloved #blackfortunemonth 
@brazospress
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