The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future

by Robert P. Jones

Taking the story of white supremacy in America back to 1493, and examining contemporary communities in Mississippi, Minnesota, and Oklahoma for models of racial repair, The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy helps chart a new course toward a genuinely pluralistic democracy.

Beginning with contemporary efforts to reckon with the legacy of white supremacy in America, Jones returns to the fateful year when a little-known church doctrine emerged that shaped the way five centuries of European Christians would understand the “discovered” world and the people who populated it. Along the way, he shows us the connections between Emmett Till and the Spanish conquistador Hernando De Soto in the Mississippi Delta, between the lynching of three Black circus workers and the mass execution of thirty-eight Lakota men in Duluth, and between the murder of 300 African Americans during the burning of Black Wall Street in Tulsa and the Trail of Tears.

From this vantage point, Jones shows how the enslavement of Africans was not America’s original sin but, rather, the continuation of acts of genocide and dispossession flowing from the first European contact with Native Americans. These deeds were justified by people who embraced the 15th century Doctrine of Discovery: the belief that God had designated all territory not inhabited or controlled by Christians as their new promised land.

This reframing of American origins explains how the founders of the United States could build the philosophical framework for a democratic society on a foundation of mass racial violence—and why this paradox survives today in the form of white Christian nationalism. Through stories of people navigating these contradictions in three communities, Jones illuminates the possibility of a new American future in which we finally fulfill the promise of a pluralistic democracy.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Race, Religion, Audiobook, Social Justice

416 pages, Paperback

First published September 5, 2023

About the author

Robert P. Jones is the president and founder of Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). He is the New York Times bestselling author of The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future (2023), as well as White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity (2020), which won a 2021 American Book Award. He is also the author of The End of White Christian America (2016), which won the 2019 Grawemeyer Award in Religion.

Jones writes regularly on politics, culture, and religion for The Atlantic, TIME, Religion News Service, and other outlets. He is frequently featured in major national media, such as CNN, MSNBC, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and others. Jones writes a weekly newsletter for those dedicated to the work of truth-telling, repair, and healing from the legacy of white supremacy in American Christianity at www.whitetoolong.net.

He holds a Ph.D. in religion from Emory University, an M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a B.S. in computing science and mathematics from Mississippi College. Jones was selected by Emory University’s Graduate Division of Religion as Distinguished Alumnus of the Year in 2013, and by Mississippi College’s Mathematics Department as Alumnus of the Year in 2016. Jones serves on the national program committee for the American Academy of Religion and is a past member of the editorial boards for the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and Politics and Religion, a journal of the American Political Science Association.

Jones served as CEO of PRRI from the organization’s inception in 2009 to 2022. Before founding PRRI, he worked as a consultant and senior research fellow at several think tanks in Washington, D.C., and was an assistant professor of religious studies at Missouri State University.

Reviews

[Scott Rhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

“In the shadow of the Trail of Tears and the murder of Emmett Till, what shall we make of the impotence of Christianity as a moral foundation of American democracy? I believe we have little choice but to acknowledge that, thus far, it has failed to defeat the forces of white supremacy. Worse, it has been pressed into its service.” (p.109)


There are forces at work today (which, sadly, will potentially grow stronger in the next four years) that want us to believe that not only will America be great again but that it was ever, at any point in its roughly 250-year history, great at all. They want us to somehow forget that our country was founded on genocide and enslavement, not equality. They want us to forget that our country was shaped by white supremacy, not egalitarianism. They literally want to rewrite history.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist, by the way. The “they” that I’m referring to aren’t some amorphous, evil cabal that wants to take over the world. No, I don’t think that “they” are necessarily evil at all. They are simply scared, and they are misled by wrong thinking that has, unfortunately, become legitimized by a racist, narcissistic president and a party of sycophants. But the legitimization of racist thinking isn’t even a new thing. In this country, it has always been the rationale for racist policies that date back to before the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock. It has literally been the founding doctrine upon which Western civilization has flourished in this hemisphere.

Robert P. Jones, in his book “The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy and the Path to a Shared American Future”, shines a light on this doctrine that has shaped modern history, a doctrine which has been treated as a secret by its adherents, even though it has been hiding in plain sight for centuries.

This doctrine has an official name, by the way. It’s called the Doctrine of Discovery. Created in the 15th-century through a series of papal bulls (Church-sanctioned edicts), the doctrine essentially approved and mandated imperialist conquest of the New World as it stated, unequivocally, that Christians—-and white Europeans in general—-are intellectually and morally superior to all non-Christian (and non-white) civilizations.

American history is a history of conquest backed by this Doctrine of Discovery, from Columbus “discovering” America to the Louisiana Purchase to Hawaii statehood. And don’t mistakenly believe that we live in a more “enlightened” era where the Doctrine of Discovery has been dismissed as a product of a white supremacist past. As recently as 2005, in a Supreme Court ruling (Sherrill v. Oneida) which disallowed the Oneida Nation’s reincorporation of land into their reservation, Ruth Bader Ginsburg (a liberal justice) cited the “Doctrine of Discovery” as justification for her argument against the Native American tribe’s claim.

Jones takes this further by focusing on three horribly tragic incidents in American history in three American cities: Money, Mississippi, Duluth, Minnesota, and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The most notable thing about these three incidents was that the white communities in these three cities all purposefully tried to erase these crimes from the history books, and, for nearly a century in one case, they almost succeeded.

I had heard about Emmet Till’s brutal murder in Mississipi, and I had—-only a year ago—-learned about the Tulsa Massacre, but until reading this book, I had never known about the lynching in Duluth, the largest lynch mobs in history. Reading about these hate crimes against black people makes me wonder—-and Jones himself more than implies—-how many more horrible white supremacist crimes have occurred in our history that were successfully erased from the books.

Jones points a straight line from the Doctrine of Discovery to our government’s genocidal policies against Native American populations to the post-Reconstruction atrocities committed against black people by racist Southerners and Northerners to George Floyd, Charlottesville, and the events of January 6, 2021.

It’s not a conspiracy theory. It’s history. And “they” want you—-and, more frighteningly, our children—-to believe that it never happened.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What are the origins of white supremacy? Christianity! (Insert pretend shocked face here)

I’m stunned that it’s taken so long to find a book that makes such clear and compelling connections to the two. Quite unfortunately, Christianity is the cause of nearly all modern day hate and strife when you boil all of these arguments down.

Beyond making this very compelling argument, I appreciate that this book took time to mention some of the ways that we can begin to repair the damage that is achievable by folks who have little control in the grand scheme of things.

Quite unfortunately, I believe it’s primarily folks with little control that actually care about repairing this damage.

There is no one book that has the full story, but I believe this one to be a great (though heartbreaking) start.

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells the story of three different American communities trying to come to terms with histories of violent racism that occurred in the early 20th century: Tallahatchie County, MS; Duluth, MN; and Tulsa, OK. The book maintains that one cannot fully understand these contemporary currents without acknowledging the violence that preceded the more recent race relation issues.

Upstream from the stories of violence toward African Americans, in all three communities, were the legacies of genocide and removal of the land's Indigenous peoples. Each of these communities-one in the heart of the South, one in the North, and one in the West has a history of brutal exploitation of and violence toward the Indigenous people who were the original inhabitants of their region.

The underlying motivation for this violence comes from the same source—self-assured assumptions of White (i.e. European origin) superiority. Thus this book suggests that 1493 is a better White superiority origin date than that suggested by the 1619 Project because that is the date of the edict of Pope Alexander VI that delineated the Doctrine of Discovery.

The story of the three communities examined by this book begins in each case with telling of the original land and its inhabitants. It tells of their great suffering from being displaced to new lands often at the cost of many lives. This book maintains that the assumed superiority that prompted the violent behavior of early White settlement also led to the later violence directed toward African Americans when expected subservient behavior was perceived to be lacking.

The book then describes how each of these three communities have taken steps in recent years to acknowledge past wrongs and construct memorials which encourage remembering, reflection, and reassessment. These portions of the book are what I found to be most hopeful for the future. As painful as the past history may be, it is in remembrance that healing can occur. Memorials don’t fix all problems but can offer a level of understanding upon which future relationships can be built.

[Sonny · Rating 5 out of 5]

― “In the shadow of the Trail of Tears and the murder of Emmitt Till, what shall we make of the impotence of Christianity as a moral foundation of American democracy? I believe we have little choice but to acknowledge that, thus far, it has failed to defeat the forces of White Supremacy. Worse, it has been pressed into its service.”
― Robert P. Jones, The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: And the Path to a Shared American Future

Author Robert P. Jones, Ph.D., was raised in the Southern Baptist Church, earned a B.S. in computing science and mathematics from Mississippi College, a Southern Baptist college, holds an M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in religion from Emory University in Atlanta. In his book, The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: And the Path to a Shared American Future, he condemns America’s history of racist oppression, but he also traces the roots of American Racism while offering a path to healing.

In addressing the roots of White supremacy in America, Jones also provides answers to questions that every evangelical Christian in America should be asking: Why did the church do nothing about the forced removal of Native Americans from their ancestral lands and the genocide of those natives? Why did the church in America essentially do nothing about slavery? Why did the church, especially white Southern churches, do almost nothing in the face of systemic racism, segregation and Jim Crow in the century after the Emancipation Proclamation? After all, as Jones writes about the introduction of Jim Crow following slavery, “whites were replacing it with a legal form of involuntary servitude.”

The church’s failure to address systemic racism in America is stunning in that it ignores the fact that Christians are called to bravely pursue justice! We find this calling throughout the Bible. The prophets challenged the nation of Israel on their failure to respond to the needs of the poor. The prophet Micah called Israel “to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before your God” (6:8). Isaiah commanded the people to “seek justice, correct oppression, take up the cause of the fatherless, and to plead the case of the widow” (1:17). One of the psalmists wrote “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute” (Psalm 82:3). Jesus took up these challenges in the Beatitudes when he addressed loving God and loving others: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7); “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9).

Jones forcefully argues that the enslavement of Africans can be traced back to the acts of genocide and dispossession that began with the first European contact with Native Americans. What justified these deeds against the natives who the first explorers encountered? Jones maintains it stemmed from the 15th-century Doctrine of Discovery: a papal bull stated that any land not inhabited by Christians was available to be “discovered,” claimed, and exploited by Christians. The decree further stated that “barbarous nations be overthrown and brought to the faith itself.” This doctrine became the basis of all European claims in the Americas as well as the foundation for western expansion of the United States.

To demonstrate the parallels between the Doctrine of Discovery and White Supremacy, the author provides three examples from the 20th century. He draws parallels between these episodes of anti-Black violence and the earlier history of Native American dispossession in the same locations. Regarding the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi in 1955, the author describes the methodical removal of the Choctaw Indians from their native lands between 1830 and 1850 in present-day Mississippi. Regarding the lynching of three Black circus workers in Duluth, Minnesota in 1920, Jones takes the reader back to the hanging of 38 men from the Dakota tribe in Mankato, Minnesota in 1862, which remains the largest one-day mass execution in American history. Finally, he draws the parallel between the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 and the forced resettlement of many American Indian groups from the eastern United States into Oklahoma beginning in the 19th century.

In the final sections, the author emphasizes the relevance of ongoing political battles over the interpretation of history and acknowledgements of culpability, e.g. the 1619 Project versus the 1776 Project. Jones concludes by stating that the healing from our nation’s racist history begins with truth-telling, commemoration, and repair.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely phenomenal.

A few years back the 1619 Project was released, arguing that the year 1619 made better sense as the beginning point of the American story than 1776, as this was the year the first slaves arrived. Since then the project has been criticized, with some criticism being the typical historical criticism that historians do and other criticism just being reactionary diatribes by, usually, conservative talking heads set on drumming up fear in their base.

Jones is of the first type, noting many of the positives of the project but also pointing out some of the flaws in the 1619 project, primarily the way it ignores the stories of indigenous people. Any story of America that does not include those who were here first makes little sense. He argues a better place to start the story is in 1493 with the establishment of the Doctrine of Discovery. First promulgated by the Catholic Church, this Doctrine taught that western Christian civilization was superior to all other cultures, races and religions. Following from this, dominations and conquest were justified as the means of improving the lot and lives of indigenous peoples. Conceived in this way, no atrocity could be bad enough to argue against the good of colonialism. European rulers of all forms of Christianity would subsequently use this Doctrine to justify taking “undiscovered” land.

Jones recognizes any starting point in history is arbitrary. You can always go back to some prior event that is necessary background for the story you are telling. The benefit of starting the story here is that Jones uses this background to tie together atrocities committed against indigenous people and black people.

The bulk of the book focuses on three geographical locales - the Mississippi Delta, Duluth, Minnesota and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jones begins each section by briefly tracing the historical roots of the indigenous tribe in each location. He then tells the story of the removal of the indigenous tribes from these lands and the later racist violence perpetuated against black people in these lands.

This ties together so much history that is often told separately. Jones paints a picture that connects the Indian Removal Act with the murder of Emmett Till and the Osage Murders (sidenote - read Killers of the Flower Moon) with the Tulsa riot.

He sums everything up in two concluding chapters, with the final one providing the relevancy for the present day (if the reader did not already figure it out).

“We remain torn by two mutually incompatible visions of the country. Are we pluralistic democracy where all, regardless of race or religion, are equal citizens? Or are we a divinely ordained promised land for European Christians?” (292). He talks about how even when there are moves for good, such as Pope Francis apologizing to indigenous people, it is a mixed bag, as the Pope’s apology worded it in such a way as to ignore the fact the Doctrine of Discovery was not peripheral to the Church but created and promoted by its leaders. Jones even shows how as recently as 2005 the US Supreme Court cited the Doctrine of Discover in a case! (Hard to believe, but it was Sherrie v. Oneida, 2005).

The Doctrine of Discovery is at the root of white christian nationalist views of America. In a recent survey by PRRI, over half of white evangelical Protestants and over half of Republicans agreed with the statement “God intended America to be a new promised land where European Christians could create a society that could be an example to the rest of the world” (300).

Again, if this is what America is believed to be, any atrocity could be justified? The atrocities are committed - lynchings and riots - but are justified. Yet they look bad, so they are swept under the rug and hidden from history. This is why these stories, such as the lynchings in Duluth and the murder of Emmett Till were barely mentioned for decades. When people begin to retell these stories, they are accused of promoting “Critical Race Theory.”

In other words, the truth of history will make America look bad and thus white Christian nationalists want a sanitized myth of America told.

“Up until very recently, history books have been full of the lies necessary to defend an impossibly innocent and glorious past. The crimes were so monstrous and the evidence so near at hand that we desperately built theologies, philosophies, and entire cultural worlds designed to obscure the facts and to produce, propagate, and protect these mythic origins. This worldview washed over our churches and seeped into our sermons, liturgies, and hymnals” (307).

We must tell the real history. We cannot move forward in the present with recognizing, and confessing, the past.

All that to say, this book is an absolute must-read!

[Carol Kearns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone needs to read this book! It centers on three stories: the Mississippi Delta/Money, Mississippi, Duluth, Minnesota, and Greenwood/Tulsa, Oklahoma. The author takes the history beyond the horrific murders of Black men, women, and children in each of these places, to prior times of murder and deception of Native Americans and uses this history to explain the entitled mindset of European Americans to mistreat first the Native Americans, and then African Americans, based on The Doctrine of Discovery. These were decrees that were stated in papal bulls that aimed to justify Christian European explorers’ claims on land and waterways they allegedly discovered, and promote Christian domination and superiority. If an explorer proclaimed to have discovered the land in the name of a Christian European monarch, he would plant a flag in its soil, report his “discovery” to the European rulers, and aim to subjugate the native peoples. This ideology dehumanized native occupants and attempted to take away their culture and beliefs on the threat of death.
I was not familiar with this belief and the damage that it had caused throughout history. Such a sad but fascinating book.

[Kimba Tichenor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The insights of post-colonial and subaltern studies on how the doctrine of discovery was used to marginalize, enslave, or eradicate non-European peoples are incorporated into this popular history of the United States. To say, it is long overdue would be an understatement.

[Karen Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very informative book that I think everyone should read. It is very heavy and I could only read a few chapters at a time. It is absolutely horrible what we do to keep white supremacy going. It will take all of us to stop it.

[Greg Grunau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of in-depth, detailed historical research, I was surprised how much I connected with Jones' book even though he's unpacking 3 tragic racial events that occurred in the US. But he also goes back further in history to describe how European people had interacted with Indigenous peoples in those same 3 geographic areas years before ... and how the underlying attitudes of European superiority (and white supremacy) were there all along, guiding many people's thoughts and attitudes and perspectives, including many Christians! And he points out how some of those same underlying worldviews are still at work today. How are they at work in Canada among Christians, especially evangelical Christians, as we engage (or don't engage) with Indigenous peoples here?
Written by a white evangelical Christian from Mississippi who was Southern Baptist, Jones shares from personal experience and insight as well as from historical research. A strong recommend!

[Gretchen Hohmeyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was not at all what I was expecting. However, each individual story has so much power and is written so well. While the title may or may not suggest this, it was far more uplifting in its end than other things I've read recently. It tells hard history, but the entire point is that--in remembering and telling--we story a better path forward.

[Bj · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very educational and thought provoking nonfiction book about three key areas and events that represent how we might move forward with commemoration and repair of historical wrongs of humanity within my country.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

All white Americans raised in Christian spaces (whether currently practicing or not) should pick this up and give it a read.

[Naomi Krokowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought provoking and thankfully encouraging at the end, this history of the influence of the 1493 Doctrine of Discovery in shaping American law, thought, and white Christian nationalism is well worth our time. The recent backlash against democratic principles has truly terrified me as a Jewish American,. The way Jones uses the stories of Emmett Till in Mississippi, the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, and a lynching of 3 Black circus workers in Duluth in 1925 is illuminating. In earnest response to the recent 1619 Project by Nicole Hannah-Jones that calls for us to think of the beginnings of the United States as commensurately connected to the arrival of African enslaved people, Jones makes a solid case that doing so leaves out the horrific damage done to indigenous peoples here in North America for millennia. We cannot move forward in battling fascism and white supremacy without truly reckoning with the extreme influence of the Doctrine of Discovery. Jones offers the glimmers of hope we must highlight to do this: the racial reconciliation work done in the Mississippi Delta, Duluth, and Tulsa is admirable but hardly sufficient. May this excellent book help many others to realize the strength of the enemy of white Christian nationalism as well as the importance of our efforts to defeat it.

[Kim Bongiorno · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never doubted that this author’s follow up to his book White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity would hit. But WHEW this was next level, pulling all the threads to show even the least history-knowledgeable of us out there how various harmful acts in US history are tied together by a common denominator.

Highly recommend this as a read and discuss book for church groups looking to gain a better understanding of the phrase “white Christian nationalism” and/or want to be propelled by their faith to do equity work in their communities.

[Corinne Colbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Often times conversations of white supremacy over Indigenous People and African American people are treated as two different issues that happened separately. Robert P. jones illustrates here that this is not the case. I don’t think in my readings of our country’s history I have ever read just how linked the stories of African Americans and Indigenous People actually are.

[Phillip · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 / 5.0

Weak linkage to "Doctrine of Discovery" theme.

Basically a case for Reparations / Restitutions

Easy Read.

[Elizabeth Vilchis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good and more accurate depiction of the racism in the US than others. Tracing it back to Indigenous genocide and the Doctrine of Discovery, rather than other periods pointed out in other projects. While Jones didn't really knock the other Jones for her theories, his is more accurate. However, this isn't entirely new, in theory. Vine Deloria Jr. had been saying this for a long time, among others.

[Drick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A profoundly enlightening book about a history of the indigenous tribes and the African Americans in the US and the historical patterns that still exist to day.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book and necessary history.

[Adam Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Changing how we think of the starting date of US history can help us see different patterns. 

The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy is the third book by Robert P. Jones that I have read (The End of White Christian America and White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in Christian America.) More so than the other two books, this is narrative-focused and less demographically focused. Jones is known for his work in polling and demography, and that number-heavy writing style is essential for making the case for current shifts in culture. But The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy is primarily a book of history, not demographics, and the writing style is more narrative.

The book opens with a discussion of the 1619 Project and how Nicole Hannah Jones has shifted the conversation to include a greater focus on slavery in developing the US as a country. Jones is not debating the 1619 Project as much as suggesting that an earlier date also needs to be included as part of the discussion. That date is 1493 when Pope Alexander VI issued the papal bull, "Inter Caetera." This papal bull and several earlier bulls are jointly known as the Doctrines of Discovery and are still important precedents to international law.

The Doctrine of Discovery is not just a theological and legal justification for European Christians to take possession of land (already occupied and controlled by others) but also justified the enslavement of those viewed as "pagans." The book's central thesis is that the Doctrine of Discovery undergirds much of American history because it was responsible for the European understanding of colocalization, land possession, and the enslavement of Native American indigenous people and Africans. Jones rightly notes early on in the book that the Louisiana Purchase is usually framed as one of the best real estate deals in history. Jones reframes the purchase not as a real estate deal but as the selling of the right to take possession (a subtle but vital distinction) directly rooted in the doctrine of discovery. The US, which was derived from Protestant England and officially a secular country, still recognized the legal authority of the Catholic Pope as an international lawgiver when it suited them.

After the introduction of the concept and the history, Jones moves on to three case studies of how traditional stories of anti-Black racism (Emmit Till, a lynching in Duluth, MN, and the 1921 Tulsa Riots) can be understood more fully by understanding the prior role of white supremacy (in the sense of racial hierarchy) concerning Native American land theft and violence that contributed to later anti-Black racism. With each case study, the narrative of the history leads into a more recent history of how various people came together to bring the repressed history of racial violence into the light and deal with the long-term implications of that history.

I was aware of the Doctrine of Discovery and all three incidents because of prior reading. Mark Charles and Soon Chan-Rah's Unsetting Truths is also about the Doctrine of Discovery. And in the comment section of the interview with Jones on the Holy Post podcast, many people recommended that book. Jones cites Unsettling Truths in the bibliography and notes and includes a note that I think is unnecessarily antagonistic:

"For reflections on the Doctrine of Discovery from a somewhat narrow and at times defensive evangelical Christian perspective, see the recent work of Mark Charles (Dine) and Soong-Chan Rah. While they denounce the Doctrine of Discovery, their commitment to defending a version of evangelical Christianity leads them to turn the term "colonization" into a metaphor as well as some tortured conclusions, such as the claim that legal abortion is "furthering colonialism." Mark Charles and Soong-Chan Rah, Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumamzing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2019), 94."

Within the Evangelical world, Unsettling Truths was the first book that most people came across that discussed the doctrines of discovery. Jones does not help the case he is trying to make that we need to do the long and hard work of coalition building and truth-telling to get to the shared future he is writing about in hopeful ways. That does not mean I think he has to ignore the differences that he has. I understand that he no longer identifies as a Christian, although he speaks frequently about growing up within the Southern Baptist Church and his theological education. I also have many disagreements with the SBC; however, accusing the one evangelical book trying to accomplish a similar task that Jones is also trying to work toward shows how hard it is to have shared purposes across the lines that divide us. And at least Jones limited his comment to an endnote that most people will never see.

The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy shows Jones's skill in balancing broad history and individual stories. Both are important to contextually understand how to think about the historical roots of white supremacy. There are also no rose-colored glasses when looking at the current efforts at truth-telling. Those efforts are fraught with problems. The attempts at truth-telling often are not as complete as it would be hoped that they could be. As with the example of the Till Museum being staffed by a Black inmate at the local jail, there are often problems with how we tell stories of the past. There are good nods to contingency of how things might have happened differently.

I wrote on Twitter about my ambivalence about white authors telling these stories of racism and white supremacy. I think Jones is doing good work in these three books that I have read and at PRRI. Many historians and theologians give essential context to the history of white supremacy that has led us to where we are today. But as Jones rightly notes, many Native Americans have been writing about the doctrine of discovery for years, while most people have been unaware of the history and legal realities (Ruth Bader Ginsberg cited the doctrines of discovery in 2005 in her Supreme Court decision to deny the right of Oneida Indian National the ability to buy land to include within their sovereignty rights of the reservation.) I have not previously read any of Vine Deloria's many books about the doctrine of discovery. And most people do not understand Native American history or the history of racial violence and lynching. But because most white people tend to mainly read other white people, white authors like Jones play an important part in the truth-telling that is a necessary part of changing our racial reality. But there is also the reality that this upholds the racial hierarchy because it takes white authors to tell stories for white readers to pay attention.

The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy is a helpful contribution to the literature that seeks to complicate and expand our racial history. Moving back the start of the discussion to 1493 makes a lot of sense. Jones is a talented writer, and whether you read this in print or audiobook, there is real value to the stories told here. But my ambivalence remains.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a concise, largely direct prose which is quite readable Jones merits praise for accomplishing his goals. He clearly explained how the Doctrine of Discovery (DoD) was developed by the Catholic Church and used by Spanish explorers/conquerors Columbus, Coronado, de Soto, et al to subjugate the Native Americans. He also showed how it was subsequently adopted by the Protestant denominations of British and Americans to justify the displacement, dispossession, and oftentimes murder of North America’s Indigenous people. He then demonstrated how these same principles were applied to the lynching and/or outright massacre of African Americans in Duluth, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The author skillfully explained how the DoD concepts in SCOTUS rulings regarding Native Americans in the 1940’s, 1950’s, and even as recently as 2005. The latter took place when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, renowned for her staunch defense of women’s rights, ruled against the Oneida nation seeking title to lands it had been granted by treaties in the 19th century. His articulation of how White Christian Nationalism is the current iteration of these white supremacist principles was very well done.

The sources which Jones relied on to make his arguments were carefully specified in the body of the narrative text and in 60 pages of notes at the end of Roots. A 28 page bibliography is enhanced by a 1.5 page Appendix which provides recommended readings on the DoD. As with any well constructed scholarly history there is a 23 page index which readers can use to check back on individuals and/or topics they might like to review again.

In addition to his narrative style of prose Jones did some other things which enhanced my engagement with this book. Chapters were divided in sections. Timely quotations from individuals directly involved in modern day reparative efforts made for some poignant moments.

As I have done a considerable amount of reading about Native American history over the last few years I found the author’s descriptions of the forced removal of the Choctaw and other nations in the American South in the 1830’s, the Dakota War and subsequent hanging of 38 warriors in Minnesota in 1862, and the brutal murderous treatment of the Osage people in Oklahoma to be adequate. I wonder, however, if less informed readers might find Jones’ succinctness to be lacking in the depth and texture these complex topics deserve. Additionally, he only mentioned the Native American Graves Protection and Reparation Act briefly two times. This has been part of very significant and complex ongoing attempts by Native Americans in recent years to regain sacred items and human remains. IMHO, this deserved more attention. Jones described efforts made by Southern Whites to eliminate African American political and economic rights after Reconstruction as ‘redemption.’ But he failed to include The Lost Cause of the 1890’s and early 1900’s.

Given these modest flaws I will rate Roots as 4 stars. I will consider reading Jones’ other books in the coming months, however.

For those wishing to do more reading on the Native American experience of the DoD I can readily endorse two of the books which Jones noted in his sources. Claudio Saunt’s Unworthy Republic offers an excellent explanation of how the policy of Removal in the 1830’s affected a few Native American nations:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’ An Indigenous People’s History of the United States provides the Native American perspective on the story of American expansion and settlement as it has typically been taught:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

One other book not in the bibliography but quite worth reading is Colin G Galloway’s The Indian World of George Washington. It describes the ways in which Washington fostered oftentimes exploitative relationships with the Native Americans over the course of his life as a surveyor, young military officer in the 1750’s, commanding general during the Revolutionary War, and first President of the USA.

[David Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a real "Can You See The Cat" revelation. Something is in front of us every day, yet hard to see and comprehend because of what we have been taught through our culture, church, and schools. Yet once revealed, you cannot unsee it, but first, you have to go way upstream, for you see, whoever writes the "in the beginning" origin story controls the context of what follows; history flows like a river; it does not occur in isolated pockets of time and space. The history of America did not start in America.

From the headwaters of 15th-century Europe, where Catholic Popes gave permission and a mandate for colonial powers to conquer non-Christian lands and force into submission anyone who did not convert to Christianity ... the river of sanctified words and images flows to 400 years of North American slavery, the Trail of Tears, Jim Crow, the murder of Emmett Till, Dr. Martin Luthor King, the Duluth Lynchings, the Tulsa massacre and the outrages foisted on Indian County (now Oklahoma), the January 6th insurrection, it is flowing to our upcoming 2024 elections. The papal Doctrine of Discovery (repudiated by Pope Francis in 2023 - see note below) and white supremacy still hold their power over the actions of millions.

The Doctrine of Discovery was created through the edict "Dum Diversas" and "Romanus Pontifex" by Pope Nicholas V in 1452 and 1455, which merged the interests of European imperialism and the African slave trade with Christian missionary zeal. This was followed by the bull "Inter Caetera" by Pope Alexander VI in 1493 ... (think Columbus), giving European leaders the mandate to subdue and convert to Christianity and ultimately reduce inhabitants to perpetual obedience and slavery. The Vatican nullified these bulls in 1530, but by then, Imperialism was fueled by the need for raw materials, supported by missionary zeal across the Americas and Africa, and unstoppable for several hundred years.

Words from the doctrine have found their way into our founding documents, our laws (Slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, SCOTUS decisions, and others), and throughout our history, our treatment of Native Americans, black Americans, Mexican Americans, and other minorities. Think of our "Manifest Destiny" that God made it possible for us to live sea to shining sea ... and the words of the Doctrine of Discovery gave us the moral justification (the ends justify the means) for invading Mexico in 1846-1848 and capturing Mexico City until Mexico agreed to "sell" us much of our southwest through the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (California, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and parts of Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming ... for $15M.

Jones closes the final chapter of his book with the following question, "how can we meaningfully respond to being beneficiaries of a crime so plain it cannot be denied and is so large it can never be repaid?"

I think we all struggle with an answer to this question. I know it starts with learning our history, not hiding it, acknowledging our faults, and learning to be better.

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/30/116705...

Manifest Destiny: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another insightful book by Robert P. Jones, whose White Too Long showed the history of white supremacy in the Christian churches in America and how it continues today. In this book, the author explains the "Doctrine of Discovery," which was announced by a couple of Popes in the 1400s at the urging of some governments in Europe, which were beginning to explore the world. The doctrine basically proclaims that any land discovered by the white, Christian, European explorers would belong to the discovering country and that any people who lived on that land and resisted the explorers or refused to convert to Christianity could be conquered, colonized, enslaved, or outright killed and this would not count as a sin--indeed, it would be favored and blessed. This "international law" gave the conquerors property rights regardless of the claims of any indigenous peoples, who were deemed powerless and inferior to the "superior" white Christian people.

The author chooses three places in the United States--the Mississippi Delta, where Emmet Till was murdered in 1955; Duluth, Minnesota, where three Black men were lynched by white mob in 1920; and Tulsa, Oklahoma, where hundreds of Black people were killed and thousands displaced and a whole Black neighborhood was burned by a white mob in the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. In each case--and the reader gets the feeling that these are just three of many possible cases--the violence against Black people was preceded, decades earlier, by terrible violence against Native Americans--the Choctaw Nation in Mississippi, the Dakota in Minnesota, and several Indian nations in Oklahoma. The arrogance and brutality of the white government agencies and settlers who, with or without the cover of law, forced the Native Americans from their lands and resources is a heartrending example of how the Doctrine of Discovery was applied to murderous effect on the indigenous people of the United States, and how the ideas of white supremacy it engendered were applied later to steal the lives and freedom of Black people as though neither they nor the Native Americans counted for anything in comparison with white people.

The author explores the attempts at repair and reconciliation that have been and are being made in these places and elsewhere in the country, and what more might be done to root out the Doctrine of Discovery in our law, politics and culture. We need to collectively recognize that "the histories of oppression in our country flow from the same source" (p. 303) and resist efforts to repress the truths of this history and the need to stop saying that we are not responsible for the actions of our ancestors or for the effects of their actions on the present. The Doctrine of Discovery, with its hierarchy of racial superiority and inferiority and its implicit permission to oppress and violate, is incompatible with democracy. We need to choose.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

To do "Hidden Roots" justice in a review would require far more length than anyone would be inclined to read in a Goodreads review. That being said, "Hidden Roots" deserves your reading for the argument that it makes about the roots of American society. At its crux is the "Doctrine of Discovery", a European principle that justified European imperialism and colonialism as a both civilizing mission and as one that would save the souls those who were subject to European attention.

I thank Robert Jones for a Giveaway copy of this book.

While the "Doctrine of Discovery" is a handy, and, I agree, valid explanation of why US culture is the way it is, we must also understand what gave rise to this Doctrine in Europe. From the rise of Islam, Europe viewed itself as under existential threat. Indeed, it is only in 1492 that Spain completes the "reconquista" and clears the country of Islam. That the Spanish, in particular, would arrive in the New World fired with religious fervor might not be unexpected. For more on this see Alan Mikhail, "God's Shadow".

Moreover, an explanation of the history of the Doctrine would give insight to the contemporary reader of the weight of religion and the Papacy in society at that time. All of this would strengthen Jones's argument for the validity of the role of the Doctrine as an underpinning of American society.

It is curious that in Jones's discussion of Columbus Day/Indigenous People's Day he seems not to be aware of the origin of Columbus Day in the lynching of 11 Italian Americans in New Orleans. (See Richard Gambino, "Vendetta") This seems a curious lapse because the event would seem to align with Jones's interpretation of the Doctrine, the corollary here being that only the "right" kind of immigrants are welcome.

While Jones's focus is on the present day role of the Christian Nationalists and how their beliefs are underpinned by the Doctrine, one might suggest that this is too narrow a focus. Looking at the immigration debate, one sees from the Progressive side a sense that illegal immigrants are entitled to be here, regardless of the impact and effect on others in society. This seems but a variation on the theme of the Doctrine that white Europeans are entitled to the New World.

As is so often said, history may not repeat itself, but it rhymes.

All of this should raise in our own minds the question of what US history or civics curriculum should look like if we are to give future generations a road forward from our past.

[Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had forgotten I had read another one of the author's books ('White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity') which I did not care for but the title to this one intrigued me. So here I picked up this book, where Jones looks at three stories: the lynching of Emmett Till, the Tulsa Race Massacre and the lynching of 3 Black workers and the execution of 38 Lakota men in Minnesota. Each are harrowing, awful stories of how race, racism, bigotry and fear all collide as part of the story that is the United States of America.

Jones goes through each story and talks about the history of each place, the events that took place, the reactions, plus the implications and impact of racial violence and how that has all continued to echo down through the centuries. It is, unfortunately, part of the country's origins and Jones does not shy away from the horrors of it all.

Overall, like his other book I found this extremely dull. I am familiar with two of these stories (Till and Tulsa), which I thought might have been part of the issue but I think his writing style is what bothers me. Not only is it dry, but that the author is also a commentator on religious matters also doesn't help. Books about religion, are highly influence by religion and those often written by religious people (if not at the time of writing but at some point) tend to bore me a lot.

That is not to say this book does not have merit. I know there are people who will have never heard of these stories (as I said, I wasn't familiar with the Minnesota one). I had only heard or really learned about Till as an adult. I had no idea about the Tulsa massacre until the HBO 'Watchmen' series from 2019 (!) (and I'll bet that others found it through another show, 'Lovecraft Country', which aired in 2020). It's obvious that there are so many gaps in US education that books like this really are necessary.

So while I might skip other books from this author going forward, I would recommend this. In some ways it reminded me of 'The Warmth of Other Suns', where author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles the Great Migration out of the South through the stories of 3 individuals (not necessarily in terms of content or style, but the telling of 3 very different stories). It would not be easy reading, but I could see these two books as companion pieces for a class or even to be read on its own.

Library borrow was best for me.

[Daniel K-Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent historiographic analysis of white supremacy, racism, settler colonialism, and white Christian nationalism in the US as examined in three places and touchstone events in American history: the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till near the Tallahatchie River in Mississippi, the 1921 massacre of the Greenwood District (Black Wall Street) in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the 1920 lynching of three Black circus-workers in Duluth, Minnesota. Jones situates each of these in the history of white settler-colonialism in the area, which gives a sense of continuity to these events. This analysis aids recognition that these were not one-off acts of violence perpetrated by singularly minded vigilantes, but rather parts of a continuous stream of events stretching back to first contact and forward to Trump's America. Jones's analysis reminds me a lot of "Here," by Richard McGuire, a graphic short story that shows one place (imagine a fixed camera frame) over time, stretching from when Earth was first forming to the distant future.

Jones starts with a critique of the 1619 Project, arguing that, while taking 1619 as a start date illuminates more than does 1776, it creates its own myopia and leaves out the brutal conquest and genocide of Indigenous Americans. Jones argues instead for a historiography of the US through the lens of the Doctrine of Discovery. The Doctrine of Discovery was established by a Papal Bull in 1493 and granted land rights to the first European Christian people who "discovered" the "terra nullius" on which Indigenous people lived. Jones locates the origin of US white Christian nationalism in this Doctrine. Historically, this is quite a sound claim, given that many of the foundational white supremacist thinkers of the US referred directly to the Doctrine of Discovery, including Washington, Jefferson, Monroe, and Jackson. The City on the Hill, Manifest Destiny, and other self-images of America as a promised land for white Christians also flow quite directly from a Doctrine that held that European conquerors were divinely ordained to bring Indigenous people under their control and ultimately to perpetrate ethnic cleansing and genocide.

While Jones does not extend the analysis to this point, the Doctrine of Discovery constitutes an ideal backdrop for considering the Zionist Project in Palestine and the international law framework used to justify it.

[Najiyah Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do Christopher Columbus, the pilgrims, the KKK, and Donald Trump's supporters all have in common? White supremacy, of course. But many groups - Asians and Arabs included - have majorities who consider their race or ethnicity superior to others without committing genocide, enslaving any particular group, or exploiting the resources of every nation they set their sites on. What made this possible for the Europeans (and subsequently the Americans)?

We're not talking here about practical variables such as sailing ships, small pox, and sidearms. We're talking about the variable gave them the audacity to put their racism into gruesome action. To visit other lands and truly feel morally superior while engaging in rape, murder, subjugation, and slaving. And that little bit of mental/emotional/spiritual gymnastics was the Doctrine of Discovery.

I knew that white supremacy and rabid colonialism were ethea of the Europeans from way back, but I had no idea they were enshrined in religio-political law - and so early on. Meet the papal bulls of 1452 and 1493. These gave conquistadors the "authority" for every act of oppression that happened from before Columbus to George Floyd and beyond. They have spawned policies like the Monroe Doctrine and Jim Crow. They have been a malignant presence in the white Christian psyche ever since, with metastases like Donald Trump and his ilk continuing to hobble our collective spiritual and societal health and healing.

One vivid point that Jones makes is that the results of this doctrine - "Indian removal" policies and slavery, for example - need not be separated into unique phenomena. They are all part and parcel of those primary DoD tumors that granted white people the ability to sin in superiority.

Grounded in the tragedies of Emmet Till, the Duluth lynchings, and the Dakota 38 as touchpoints, The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy shows the reader both how bad things have been AND the ways people of conscience are trying to make things better. This last part is important, because so many historical and anti-racism works end after leading the reader into despair. Jones's emphasis on examples of hopeful work motivate the reader to get out there and get involved.

[Chris Jaffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book focuses on the history of white supremacy in America by looking at three separate places: Money, MS (sight of the infamous Emmett Till lynching), Dulutch, MN (home to a nasty triple lynching after WWI), and Tulsa, OK (where the most violent racial incident of the 20th century took place).

If Jones would just tell the story of the terrible 20th century incidents in these towns, he'd have a fairly conventional retelling of previously told tales. He does things a bit differently, though - he looks back to the 19th century, when the racial divide wasn't white/black, but white/red. He looks at the story of the displacement of Native Americans.

The title's hidden roots ultimately is The Doctrine of Discovery, whereby Europeans justified the conquest of the land and displacement of Native Americans by saying (essentially) "Hey, we're Christians and you're not, we want the land, and you have it, so since we just `discovered' this land, it's ours." Add to this the obvious racial distinction, and Christian/heathen became white/non-white and race becomes a signifier for justifying white America's rise, even in areas without many blacks. Emmett Till's lynching took place in an area cleared of Native Americans by Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act. Minnesota witnessed an exceptionally nasty Sioux War in 1862 - nasty because how rampant government corruption forced the Sioux into a situation where they felt they had to rebel, and for how it concluded with the largest mass execution in US history. Tulsa was of course in Native American territory - but once the US ran short of other land we wanted, and especially after oil was discovered, the US said that the Osage couldn't handle money well, and it led to a slew of marriages/murders done to the tribal members.

Jones also takes it to the present, by noting attempts to acknowledge and commemorate the Till lynching, the Duluth triple lynching, and the Tulsa massacre. He's sunnier on the future than I am, but overall he does a quality job in this book.

[Corrie Haffly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rather than taking 1619 as a starting point, Dr. Jones focuses on the impacts of the Doctrine of Discovery (the religious edicts that declared European people and culture as superior and all other lands and peoples as subject to them) and the resultant worldview of white supremacy on both Native peoples and Black people. Dr. Jones takes three incidents of anti-Black violence (Emmett Till’s murder, the Duluth lynchings, and the Tulsa Massacre) and steps back even further to the violence against Native Americans in each of those regions. He then describes the ways these once-buried atrocities are being brought back to light and subsequent attempts toward repentance, restitution, and repair (some more successful than others).

As an American Christian, this history is part of my story as well. I grieved at the many promises my country’s government has broken when it came to negotiations with indigenous tribes. I raged knowing that “God-fearing believers” were the ones cheating and starving and killing Native Americans, torturing Emmett Till, and looting the homes in Greenwood (and shooting those who fled). I wondered along with Dr. Jones why “we are endlessly creative in fashioning novels ways to kill, dispossess, and defraud others,” yet “hopelessly unimaginative in our efforts to balance the scales of justice.” Ouch!!

Dr. Jones calls out the belief that “America was divinely ordained to be a new promised land for European Christians.” I can see ways this insidious view has formed much of my upbringing even as an Asian American, and I’m grateful for this book that is helping to open my eyes to true events of history, as ugly as it sometimes (often) turns out to be. Because “truth-telling is the key that opens the door to a new place, one that better expresses who we want to be, to ourselves and in relationship to our fellow citizens.”

[Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy by Robert Jones is a compelling and insightful exploration into the complex interplay between race, religion, and politics in America. Jones is the president and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute, and an astute observer and analyst of the intersection of religion and public life. In this book, he delves deep into the historical and contemporary influences that have shaped white supremacy, presenting his arguments with clarity and rigor. His work is not only scholarly but also accessible, making it a valuable resource for both academics and general readers interested in understanding the underpinnings of racial discord and inequality.

With noteworthy discernment and intellectual rigor, Jones masterfully navigates through the sensitive terrain of white supremacy, avoiding the pitfalls of oversimplification. He draws on a rich tapestry of historical events, religious ideologies, and political movements to uncover how these forces have converged to sustain and propagate white supremacist ideologies. What sets this book apart is Jones' ability to connect the dots between seemingly disparate elements of American society, revealing the hidden roots of white supremacy in a way that is both enlightening and provocative.

The book is not just an academic treatise; it is a call to action. Jones offers thoughtful analysis and practical suggestions for addressing and dismantling the systemic racism that pervades American society. His hopeful outlook, grounded in a deep understanding of the issues at hand, provides a roadmap for moving forward.

This book is a significant contribution to the discourse on race, religion, and politics. It is both informative and transformative, urging readers to confront uncomfortable truths while inspiring hope for a more equitable future.