United Methodist Pastor Ryan Grace is White. Very White. Raised in a small Appalachian town where everyone had the same color of skin, he grew up believing racism was dead.

 

But, after years of witnessing our country’s racial tensions, he began to wonder if racism really had been buried. To learn the truth about current race relations, he took his family on a road trip through history. With his wife and two daughters, he drove to the John Rankin House in Ripley, Ohio, to explore slavery and the Underground Railroad. They continued on to the National Historical Trail from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, where they walked in the footsteps of the Civil Rights Movement. Finally, their journey led them to the predominantly Black city of Detroit, where they shared a meal with a Black family, celebrated the anniversary of an historic Black church, and uncovered the ongoing state of separation between Black and White in America.

 

As a White Christian pastor, Rev. Grace comes face to face with the darkness of our nation’s past. He sees firsthand how the American Spirit has wrestled with freedom and equality. He is discouraged by the way racism gets buried…only to keep rising up from underground. Yet, he is also inspired by the people who have crossed racial lines to build community. And, he discovers some of the heroes - both Black and White - who rise above racism still today.