This is our unabridged interview with Esau McCaulley.

What is it like growing up Black in the American South?

The question is too particular to answer with abstraction. Instead, Esau McCaulley answers it in the most personal, humble way available, by telling the story of his family in his new memoir, “How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South.”

When he was asked to give the eulogy at his father’s funeral, Esau was sparked to examine his own childhood and dig into his family’s past. In the process, he engaged with the complexity of US history, and its impact on some of the most important questions of our time. In this episode, Esau discusses what he uncovered, and, careful not to generalize, describes what the experience taught him about race, faith, and the culture of the South in the United States.

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