Mr. Lucas offers his thoughts on his book discussion of James McBride’s Song Yet Sung.

“On October 3, 2009, I had the honor to facilitate one of the One Maryland One Book discussions on James McBride’s, Song Yet Sung.  Nine people attended our very lively discussion and all were fascinated with this incredible piece of living literature.

I used several PowerPoint slides to move the discussion along, and this allowed the discussion to flow extremely well, although we still could have used more time.

I was very fortunate in that I got an opportunity to meet Mr. McBride at Bridgeway Church in Columbia the weekend before, and it was very helpful to hear from him directly about what inspired him to write this book from his drive through Dorchester County and seeing the historic marker referencing Harriet Tubman.  There was considerable discussion about the similarities between the character Liz Spocot and Harriet Tubman.  And, the entire group was fascinated by The Woolman.

We spent considerable time talking about McBride’s reference to “The Code.”  Through a little bit of research prior to the discussion, I discovered the quilt display at NSA’s Cryptology Museum.  And, although there is still controversy regarding the legitimacy of the story that the 17 quilt patterns on display at the Cryptology Museum were actually used to communicate with escaping slaves, it is truly a fascinating exhibit.

Since Patty Canon was a real person, I included a picture of the historic marker in front of her house and a fascinating picture of Patty Canon’s skull currently on display at the Dover Public Library.

We had a phenomenal time discussing Song Yet Sung.  It is my hope that we can find more creative ways to get our kids engaged in enriching activities like this.

It is important to note that we had more men at our discussion than women which classifies the demographic of our discussion as a real outlier!

If you are interested in a copy of my PowerPoint slides, please contact me at 100blackmenofmaryland@comcast.net and I will be happy to send them to you.”

Raymond W. Lucas
President, 100 Black Men of Maryland, Inc.
President, 100 Black Men of Maryland Charter School Initiative

Tags: book discussion, James McBride, One Maryland One Book, Raymond Lucas, Song Yet Sung

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