Lawrence Carter pens foreword for Bankole Thompson book on America at 250

Morehouse Chapel founding dean Dr. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr. wrote the foreword to Bankole Thompson’s upcoming book on Frederick Douglass, democracy and the nation’s 250th anniversary. Carter called Thompson “one of America’s greatest prophetic journalists” and placed his work in the moral tradition of Martin Luther King Jr.

Why it matters: - Dr. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr. is a major King scholar and a longtime interpreter of the civil-rights movement’s moral legacy. - His endorsement puts Thompson’s new book in a lineage tied to Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass and the debate over America’s democratic promises. - The foreword elevates Thompson’s work beyond a single book and frames his journalism as part of a larger civic and moral argument.

What happened: - Carter wrote the Foreword to Bankole Thompson’s forthcoming seventh book, Bankole Thompson’s 12 Moral Questions: Frederick Douglass and the Soul of America at 250. - Carter called Thompson “one of America’s greatest prophetic journalists.” - Carter also described Thompson as “a drum major in the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr.” - The book will be released first as a limited edition in November 2026, ahead of wider publication in 2027.

The details: - Thompson’s book arrives as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary. - The book uses Frederick Douglass as a central moral reference point. - Thompson examines 12 questions about democracy, truth, racial and economic justice, human dignity, leadership, historical memory and conscience. - The book asks how much distance remains between America’s democratic promises and American practice. - Carter’s view reflects decades of following Thompson’s journalism, books and public work. - Carter was personally recruited by King in 1958, while Carter was in 10th grade, to attend Morehouse College. - Carter later became the founding dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse and spent nearly half a century preserving and advancing King’s legacy. - In January 2025, Carter preached the Martin Luther King Jr. Sunday Eucharist at Washington National Cathedral from the Canterbury Pulpit. - That same pulpit is where King delivered his final Sunday sermon, “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution,” on March 31, 1968. - Carter mentored Rev. Raphael Warnock through the Chapel Assistants program. - Warnock later became senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church and the first Black person elected to the U.S. Senate from Georgia. - Thompson has been a twice-weekly opinion columnist at The Detroit News and a former editor of the Michigan Chronicle. - During Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, Thompson became the first editor of a major African American newspaper to conduct a series of exclusive sit-down interviews with Obama. - Thompson later wrote Obama and Black Loyalty and Obama and Christian Loyalty. - Rev. Dr. Bernard LaFayette Jr. nominated Thompson to serve on the National Board of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, making Thompson the first journalist in American history to do so. - Thompson has delivered major addresses at Brown University, Michigan State University’s Slavery to Freedom Lecture Series, Dillard University and other institutions. - The University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library established the Bankole Thompson Papers in 2015 to preserve his work. - Thompson’s recent eulogy for civil-rights leader Dr. William G. Anderson helped reinforce Carter’s view of Thompson’s work. - Thompson’s eulogy, titled “William G. Anderson and the Empty Chair at the Constitutional Convention of 1787,” linked Anderson’s life to citizenship, constitutional belonging and Black exclusion from the nation’s founding compact. - Gerald E. Rosen, former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, also endorsed the book. - Rosen said the book’s questions “go to the heart of who we are and who we should be as a society.” - Rosen called the book a “must read for serious students of America and our society's promise to the world.” - Thompson is the author of six previous books. - His 2026 book HOPE: On the Mountain Of Fear included a foreword by Sister Simone Campbell. - His 2023 book Fiery Conscience was reviewed by Forbes and is listed at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. - Thompson founded and chairs The PuLSE Institute, an anti-poverty think tank focused on economic inequality and civic responsibility.

Between the lines: - Carter’s foreword signals that Thompson’s book is being read as a moral intervention, not just a political commentary. - The combination of Carter’s King lineage and Rosen’s judicial background gives the book credibility in both civil-rights and institutional circles. - Thompson’s framing suggests the 250th anniversary will not just be a celebration but a test of whether America has met its own stated ideals.

What’s next: - Thompson’s limited edition will arrive in November 2026. - Wider publication follows in 2027. - The book is likely to enter the broader debate over how America should mark its semiquincentennial and what obligations come with that milestone.

The bottom line: - Carter’s foreword turns Thompson’s book into a bridge between Douglass, King and the country’s 250th anniversary reckoning.