Rev. Dr. Jacqueline Lewis Interview: Finding Wisdom in Pain

Episode Summary

The Reverend Dr. Jacqui Lewis is the first black and female senior minister at the multicultural Collegiate Church in Manhattan which was founded in 1628.  In this episode of The Thread, Jacqui Lewis describes the formative years in her church-based family as “idyllic.” She recalls how it was not until kindergarten that she ever heard the “N-word.” Rather than allowing her to feel shame, her mother reacted by teaching her that it was “silly” to treat people badly if they were different in color or creed. Jacqui Lewis poignantly recalls the tragic assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, when she was only nine years old. This "killing of love" was her entry into the world of activism that has since informed her life’s work and led to her calling as a minister, a best-selling author and one of the nation’s most prominent progressive pastors.