My Father's House: An Ode to America’s Longest-Serving Black Congressman [9780063336810]

Overview

In this moving work, a powerful father-son memoir and clear-eyed assessment, the son of iconic African American Congressman John Conyers Jr. shines a spotlight on his father and his political legacy, and reveals how, as his son, he eventually learned to leverage his own voice in a world that his father helped create.

A respectful, thoughtful, yet clear-eyed reframing of a national hero’s personal and political odyssey, My Father’s House is John Conyers III's love letter to his father and a record of his own journey. Conyers reveals a towering figure in modern American political history and an ordinary family man; a leader whose work in Washington necessitated his many absences as a father from a son coming of age in Detroit during a pivotal time in African American history.

John Conyers III introduces us to John James Conyers, Jr. the legislator, who changed lives and made history, and of his equity-focused work on issues like social justice that remains to be done. We meet Conyers the politician and mentor who worked with and counselled a network of powerbrokers—often from the family home on Seven Mile Road in the Motor City—including President Bill Clinton, Congressmen Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Charlie Rangel, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, feminist Gloria Steinem, entertainer-activists Harry Belafonte, Berry Gordy, Stevie Wonder, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Chris Tucker and a slew of other players in Washington, DC, and across the nation.

A resonant political, historical, and family story, My Father’s House explores how John James Conyers, Jr., a co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, was at once a man of deep and abiding spiritual faith, human talents, and human weaknesses. As he places his father among this land's greatest lawmakers, he also demystifies and grounds the Civil Rights giants of that era, reminding us of their noble yet deeply flawed humanity. This exploration of John James Conyers, Jr., told through John Conyers III's eyes and experiences, is essential to a thorough understanding of modern U.S. politics and the cultures and human lives it continues to shape.

My Father’s House includes a black-and-white photo insert.

This intimate political memoir goes beyond the headlines to reveal the man behind the legacy.

• A Civil Rights Movement Up Close: Witness history through the eyes of a son who grew up alongside giants like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, learning firsthand the costs and triumphs of the fight for equality.
• The Making of a Political Legacy: Explore the untold stories behind landmark legislation, from the fight for the MLK holiday to the decades-long push for H.R. 40 and reparations, and the equity-focused work that continues today.
• Coming of Age in Detroit: Experience the Motor City's political and cultural heartbeat, from the family home on Seven Mile Road to the corridors of power, in a city that shaped both father and son.
• A Son's Search for His Own Voice: A moving, clear-eyed journey of a son learning to reconcile the image of a national hero with the reality of an often-absent father, and ultimately finding his own place in the world his father helped build.