Section 2, Part 1 Summary and Analysis

"Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region in My Mind", Part 1. This section of the book opens with two quotations. The first is from Rudyard Kipling, a British author who lived in, and wrote extensively about, colonial India. The quotation is in the form of a poem, and urges the listener (the indigenous Indian population) to "take up the White Man's burden" and not call too loudly for freedom to ease their pain. The second quotation is from a hymn referring to the cry of a sinner for redemption "down at the cross" (where Jesus Christ died), how redemption came to the singer, and cleansed his heart.

The first part of "Down at the Cross" is an examination of Christianity, from both the personal perspective of the author and from a black cultural perspective. The author discusses at...