Nationally acclaimed journalist and author Bankole Thompson will make his first appearance at the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue in Detroit on Tuesday, October 13. The event centers on Thompson’s latest book, HOPE: On The Mountain Of Fear, and the life and legacy of the late Jewish leader Samantha Woll.
Samantha Woll, who served as president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, died in 2023 at the age of 40. Her tragic passing reverberated throughout Michigan and beyond. The synagogue now houses the Samantha Woll Center for Jewish Detroit, an institution dedicated to her memory and work.
Woll’s legacy holds a significant place in Thompson’s latest work. Her parents, Dr. Douglas and Margo Woll, contributed an essay to the book reflecting on their daughter’s life, values, and commitment to humanity. As physicians, the Wolls have developed a high regard for Thompson and expressed deep admiration for his work and his commitment to questions of conscience, justice, and human dignity.
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Published in May of 2026, HOPE: On The Mountain Of Fear examines hope not as sentiment or easy optimism, but as a moral response to poverty, inequality, illness, homelessness, mental health struggles, threats to democracy, and the broader crises confronting human dignity. The book features a foreword by Sister Simone Campbell, the Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and nationally prominent Catholic social justice leader.
A Conversation at the Crossroads of Faith
Thompson will discuss the central moral arguments of the book while reflecting on Samantha Woll’s life and what her example asks of communities confronting grief, division, and an increasingly fractured public square. The event is being hosted by the Samantha Woll Center for Jewish Detroit, located within the synagogue and named in honor of Woll.
“This gathering is ultimately about the kind of hope that refuses to surrender to fear,” Thompson said. “Samantha Woll’s life reminds us that our deepest obligations to one another transcend the boundaries that too often separate us. To discuss HOPE in a center bearing her name carries profound meaning.”
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The October 13 gathering will bring these intersecting questions into one of Detroit’s important Jewish spaces while honoring a young Jewish leader whose life embodied the possibility of building relationships across communities. Thompson views the appearance as another chapter in an expanding public conversation across books, journalism, faith traditions, and generations around a question that reaches beyond any single community.
For Thompson, the event represents a significant moment of connection. The synagogue appearance is the latest in a consequential series of invitations placing him before different religious, civic, and generational audiences to address questions of hope, justice, and the human condition.
Bankole Thompson is a 47-year-old nationally acclaimed journalist whose work has interrogated power while examining democracy, racial and economic justice, and the moral worth of the human person for more than two decades. The upcoming talk at the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue offers a chance to hear his perspective on how communities can maintain hope amid the challenges of the modern era.
