A Book Discussion with Rev. Dr. Robert Polk

A Riverside Conversation with the Rev. Dr. Robert L. Polk

Book Signing for Fly in the Butter Milk: One Black Man’s Odyssey

Moderated by Rev. Dr. Debra Northern

Sunday, February 19, 2023

1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Join the esteemed Rev. Dr. Robert L. Polk, The Riverside Church’s first Black clergy on staff, for an intimate conversation exploring his experiences in North Dakota that laid the groundwork for his role in expanding and deepening Riverside’s relationship with its Harlem neighbors in the 60’s and 70’s.

About the Book: Can past circumstances about social justice and racism continue to be relevant in this era? That is the core question addressed, and answered, in Fly in the Buttermilk, a poignant memoir by Rev. Dr. Robert L. Polk about his time, 1955-1960, as the 48^th official Black resident (as he was told) in the state of North Dakota. Fly reveals the amazing story of a freshly minted, young, Black, urban, seminary graduate who dared to accept his first call as a pastor in the nearly all-white state of North Dakota.

Polk has always had a deep and innate passion for race relations and social justice, all of which he endeavored to blend, both in his ministry to a tiny and decidedly rural parish and, later, as youth director in the Minot YMCA for over three hundred teens.

This candid memoir explores the highs, lows, joys and sorrows, daily routine and the dynamics of racial isolation and race relations.

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