Dreams from My Father: Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

Barack sits with Reverend Philips, talking about  historically Black churches. Reverend Phillips talks about slave religion, the Southern churches, and the history of churches in Chicago. He says that as a result of segregation, both well-off and poor Black people worship together. This allows the churches to circulate ideas better, but he’s not sure this will continue. Many of his congregants have moved to the suburbs and are unwilling to volunteer for programs that keep them in the city past dark. Barack asks Reverend Philips for introductions to other pastors. Philips mentions Reverend Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ and says that Barack has good ideas, but churches do things their own way. When he learns that Barack doesn’t attend church, he suggests he start going to win over the pastors.

Barack sits in his car. It’s a beautiful September day and no one but Johnnie knows that Barack plans to leave for law school next year. Johnnie congratulated Barack and insisted it was just a matter of time before he left. This made Barack defensive and Barack retorted that he’d still return to Chicago. Barack plans to take a trip to Kenya after he quits his job, and he knows that law school will give him an understanding of how power actually works. This knowledge will help him make change. But Barack wonders if this is just a fiction and he wonders if he’ll end up like the Old Man. Perhaps he’s just trying to escape, like so many Black people before him.

Barack also recognizes that, in Chicago, he can live part of his life in the swanky downtown and part of it in the South Side and people will think of him as a role model. Johnnie and the other leaders don’t think success like that is wrong—and indeed, most Black people he’s met aren’t judgmental and high-minded, like the Old Man in Ann’s stories. Most people are more like Lolo and accept Barack just because of his skin color. Barack wonders if he came to Chicago just to find this acceptance, but he knows that he also came to serve the community and help it thrive.

Barack continues to meet with Black pastors in the city. Once Barack gets to know them, he discovers that these pastors are thoughtful, generous, and hardworking. They talk openly about their struggles and ask Barack about his own faith. Several younger pastors point Barack to Reverend Wright; older pastors are more skeptical. At the end of October, Barack finally visits Reverend Wright. Children and older women mill around after finishing dancing classes, daycare, or Bible study. Reverend Wright’s Black assistant offers Barack coffee and shares that she’s moving out to the suburbs for her son’s sake. Reverend Wright calls Barack to his office.

Reverend Wright explains that he’s trying to build a new sanctuary and is arguing with the bankers—they think the church will collapse if he dies, so they want him to take out another life insurance policy. But Reverend Wright explains that the bankers are wrong. The congregation will pull together even if he’s not around. He shares some of his history and Barack realizes that it’s Reverend Wright’s ability to reconcile “the conflicting strains of Black experience” that makes the church successful. The church has 4000 members and a variety of clubs. Reverend Wright says that young men like Barack are the hardest to reach, as they think going to church makes them look weak. This makes Barack uncomfortable.

Barack shares his goals and Reverend Wright promises to help. But he says his involvement might not be helpful; many other pastors don’t appreciate Trinity, either for being too emotional or radical. Barack interjects that many think “the church is too upwardly mobile,” which Reverend Wright says is nonsense. He calls out the people who think that former gangsters or Muslims don’t belong in a Christian churches, and those who think churches who focus on education are suspect. He points out that cops don’t check how much money he has when they pull him over and that this country is never safe for Black men, no matter where they are.

In the parking lot, Barack flips through a brochure detailing Trinity’s “Black Value System.” He comes to a commandment insisting that members refuse to pursue “middleclassness.” It says that while it’s fine to be middle class, it’s not okay to achieve success and think of oneself as better than others. Barack thinks of this often in the coming weeks. He sees that while there are lots of teachers and secretaries in the congregation and while most of the church’s funds go to helping the poor, there are lots of Black professionals at Trinity. All of them, however, came to Trinity to find themselves and a sense of belonging. Barack also sees that due to the different socioeconomic statuses of the congregation, the congregation becomes more unified in their Black identities.

Despite all this, Barack still wonders whether this kind of church will keep people from fleeing the city or keep young men out of jail. Sometimes he asks congregants these questions. Inevitably, they tell him he has good ideas and invite him to join the church so they can start a community program. But as Barack doubts his own faith, he shrugs these offers off.

Harold Washington dies unexpectedly the day before Thanksgiving, mere months after winning reelection. The streets are silent and people cry. Mourners visit the body at City Hall and, soon after the funeral, Washington’s loyalists meet to decide who will take his place. But it’s too late: the diverse coalition that elected him shatters. Barack watches constituents harass Black aldermen for cutting a deal with white council members; later, he sees two aldermen—one white and one Black, who belong to rival factions— whispering conspiratorially in their fancy suits, hiding their smiles from the crowd. Barack throws himself into work and into preparing Johnnie to take over once Barack leaves for Harvard. His acceptance packet reminds him of Gramps’s joy reading the Punahou catalog. Barack had pretended to understand Gramps’s joy, but he wanted to be in Indonesia back then, running barefoot. He feels a bit like that now.

Barack arranges a luncheon for ministers and leaders and, at the end, he announces that he’s leaving. Everyone but Mary congratulates Barack; she asks why men always want more than they have. Barack walks her to her car and then returns to Will, who insists that Barack will be back. That Sunday, Barack wakes up early, puts on a suit, and goes to Trinity. Several people wave to him as he squeezes in between an elderly woman and a young family. Reverend Wright’s sermon is titled “The Audacity of Hope.” It’s a “meditation on a fallen world” and he insists they must keep hoping. People cry out and rise. Barack realizes that the church carries the stories of Black people forward and makes them accessible. As the choir sings, the boy next to Barack offers him a tissue. He didn’t realize he was crying.