Reviews with content warning for Violence - Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019

This collection of historical essays is so accessible, it's a wonder it is not more widely used in schools and public discourse. Each entry, focused usually on a small or local figure at some point in the 5-year span, is also given the broader context in the narrative of black experience and the American story and written by a different author. While some topics are expected (Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, Hip-Hop), none are "traditionally-taught" accounts but each reveals an unexpected (at least for me) connection, a significant consequence, or a series of details which--while barely planned by editors Kendi and Blain--underscore larger patterns.

Widely researched (though awkwardly cited with difficult-to-navigate and unmarked end notes), nearly every essay hints at still deeper scholarship to be revealed. I say "nearly every essay" because this is one of two concerns I had about the project:

1) While I am not certain of the directives given the various writers, not each approached the task with equal devotion to scholarship. I expected (and desired) analysis and judgments to accompany the topics and, especially in the earlier essays, these appeared, solidly built upon documented evidence. In a few (fortunately quite few) cases, however, there was more judgment than analysis and more still than documented detail. This was frustrating, as the tone for the book had been set by more focused historians earlier. But when the rhetoric grew powerful in place of scholarship, the interest in learning waned. In my view, it undermined the credibility of the collection as a whole.

2) My other concern is not truly that. As large as the collection is (80-odd brief essays with 10 poems), it is yet incredibly brief, barely skimming the richness and nuanced diversity of narratives we have of black history. In other words, I found myself reading the work as an introduction to larger studies (some completed or underway by the writers), or as a first volume, perhaps, to another few thousand which might still be written. To be sure, this is hardly a criticism but a printing limitation; but to that end, I would have appreciated a section which pushed readers to more serious scholarship out there on its topics. The brief writer bio entries at the end were in this way somewhat helpful, but not reliably focused on expanding the reader's experience.

Still, as I purge my bookshelf of over 5000 titles, <i>Four Hundred Souls</i> will stay, because it a volume I am confident to return.

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booksgamesvinyl's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Well, this is just one of those big-name recent releases that I knew I needed to read. And then I actually read an interview with Kendi and Blain and the audiobook producer (does anyone else that works/spends time in a library read Book Page?) where they talked about matching the full cast of narrators to easy essay/chapter and how important the voice/vibe/topic match was. Which happened around the same time that Libro.fm offered the audiobook as an ALC...and here we are!

Well, the subtitle of this fairly epic collection, A Community History of African America 1619-2019, pretty well sums up the contents. This is a collection of close to one hundred essays and poems that tell the history of Africans in America, retelling the history of America within the frame of this perspective. With authors whose backgrounds range from historian to sociologist to lawyers to journalists to artists and more, this chronological look at four hundred years of African-American history (from first arrival through slavery, segregation, migration, general cultural and systemic oppression and violence, along with resistance, art and creativity, and myriad examples of the constant pushing of boundaries) is stunningly successfully ambitious in scope (which should come as no surprise, considering the curators).

This is a really unique book to review because it was so...all-encompassing. I think it's going to be tough to speak to anything individually, since this was such a sweeping history, and each of the essays felt like it covered so much in such a short time. Reviewing it all seems like a nigh-on impossible task. That being said, I'll kind of give some broad sweeping thoughts/reactions, perhaps add a few more specific comments (for flavor!), and then just close out with a recommendation to read (or, really, listen - the full cast audiobook narration was a spectacular experience) to it yourself.

Starting with a personal note, I have to say that, as a twice-graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, starting this right after their recent self-inflicted BS bad rep post the non-tenure-granting to Nikole Hannah-Jones, was stark and poignant, since the opening essay (the arrival in 1619 of the first Africans to this land) was by her (and the "not" reason for her not-tenure was most definitely related to her involvement with th 1619 Project). As a good friend said, "truth hurts, UNC."

Moving forwards from there, this was a beautiful compilation of Black voices telling the stories of their history centering them, which is a huge, and necessary, departure from the "conventional" history taught in schools (the authors of which textbooks are, pretty much all, white). It was such a cool way to look at such a large chunk of time too, getting snippets of individual stories that illuminated so many different periods and lives, working together to make a full historical picture. I also absolutely loved the way that so many nuances were added to that picture, with perspectives not commonly considered (like the concept of myriad separate African identities before African American became a "single" thing) and non-mainstream perspectives of common/popular figures and moments (like reflections from a descendant of Plessy from Plessy v Ferguson). Along these same lines, these moments did a really great job exemplifying how often historical figures, whether deserved/beneficial or not, get defined by the time period and not by their person. I also really enjoyed reading from contributors whose other work I know/have read, like Heather McGhee, Kiese Laymon, Angela Davis, Isabel Wilkerson and more, because it was fascinating to see what they felt was most important to highlight in such a short space, in comparison with their longer/other works. Overall, the creative breadth of narrative style was so well executed and curated. And though for some reason in my head this was more a creative nonfiction/fiction collection, rather than a strictly nonfiction/educational collection, in the end it was amazing and it didn't matter what I had expected, because what I got was spectacular.

One benefit to going through these pieces of history so quickly, even though sometimes I definitely wanted more, was that there was a great opportunity to see patterns unfold. For example, watching the evolution of the purposeful dehumanization of Black people (and even more specifically, the differences in the way Black men and Black women were societally stereotyped and/or degendered) and how those socially-created parameters have been codified and accepted as truth today is hard, but so important, to witness. It's a comprehensive look at how we (white people, specially, white politically/economically powerful people) created, for the benefit, the racism that led to slavery and the society we have today. It did not start out that way and so clearly didn't/doesn't have to be that way.

The chance to experience these years in such quick succession emphasized how, over and over, history's pattern of racial disenfranchisement in America has repeated itself. This is particularly striking in juxtaposition with realizing that we accept so many things as "fact" right now that were fabricated so recently as to be within my lifetime (or just before…). Really, this was just such an incredible reading and learning experience.

“This omission is intentional: when we are creating a shared history, what we remember is just as revolutionary as what we forget.”

“It was a womanhood synonymous with market productivity, not motherhood; and with promiscuity rather than modesty or a heightened moral sensibility.”

“A recovery of the earthly and spiritual equality of all people, both in theory and in practice, is the only way to redeem religion from racism.”

“The 1688 Germantown petition is a model of, if nothing else, a quality that Black people need in white Americans – the uncompromising belief that what is wrong with racism is not that it inhibits full access to American goods and treasures but that it is an affront to the human standing of Black Americans. Black people don’t need allies. We need decent people possessed of the moral conviction that lives matter.”

“Time and again white racism produced Black resistance. It is one of the longest-running plotlines in African American history.”

“While some nations vow never to forget, our American battle has always been over what we allow ourselves to remember. Our historical record, we know, is subjective. Not every account is written down. The distinction between equity and injustice, riot and uprising, hinges on whose hand holds the pen. So often, it seems, our history is hiding from us, preventing the possibility that we dare look back and tell the truth – afraid of what doing so may require of us now.”

“But true equality cannot be left to the whims of the electorate – it is the predicate for democracy and the vote, not their product.”

“What happens to the person when they become a symbol? Can they be recovered? Can they exist beyond what they embody? In this wrestling over symbols, the individual is sacrificed. They become the unknown.”

“When it comes to our democracy, and who we determine to have the right to vote – our most sacred of rights – patience is no virtue. We must never be patient when someone else’s rights are in the balance. We cannot wait on laws, or elected officials, or anyone else. The only virtue when it comes to the right to vote is impatience.”

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apworden's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

This is an excellent overview of African American history. The variety helps break up challenging content and allows for better reflection. The audiobook is also fantastic.

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rorikae's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

‘Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019’ edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain is a collection of essays that tell the four-hundred-year history of people of African descent in the United States. It is an affecting collection that tells this history through highlighting both larger narratives and individual lives.
I think this is a perfect piece of introductory literature and to chronicle the changes across these years of history. Since each essay is of similar length, taking up about 10 to 15 minutes in the audiobook version, there isn’t a ton of time to delve deep into each topic, but in that way I think it is the perfect jumping off point for learning more. I believe this would be a perfect piece of literature to be taught in a high school history class that then invites each student to pick the essay or time in history that they found the most compelling to do more research on. There are lots of names and points in history that I know I will be looking up more about spurred on by their inclusion in this collection.
I highly recommend the audiobook. Each essay gets its own narrator and that adds to the community feel of the anthology. This is essential reading and I highly, highly recommend it.

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serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

When I undertook my history degree it was drummed into me that good history was detached, impartial and objective. Four Hundred Souls is not that sort of history - and it is all the better for it. Stronger and far more engaging. And more truthful.

It’s a community history, a compilation of eighty essays, each by a different author. The authors came from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines; this is not a book authored solely by academic historians. Some essays focused on a person, some an event, some an object, others an idea. I loved the variety of topics, styles and voices. Each essay covered a five year period and they were arranged chronologically which gave the book a flow, a sense of historical progression and a cohesiveness. The essays were divided into ten sections, each of which ended with a poem that reflected on the preceding essays. I’ve never seen this done before but I thought it was very effective. The poetry brought a different dimension and I wished some visual arts had been able to be included also.

Another thing that really stood out is the way most, if not all, essays explicitly linked the events of the past with those of the present. This is not a book of dry facts from the past; this is history that clearly explains the present, and sadly indicates the way things have not changed as much as they ought.

It’s very hard to review such a diverse collection. Personally I especially enjoyed the essays that looked at the 1600 and 1700s since it’s a period of US history that I’m less familiar with. Michael Harriot’s essay on the Reconstruction era really stood out because of it’s honest language, language that differs from that found in most history books. They talk about racial unrest; he talks about terror cells and a war being waged to create a white supremist state. Tera W. Hunter’s exploration of the Shermantown neighbourhood also caught my eye.

Four hundred years of history may sound a daunting read but it’s not. All the essays bar one are between 3 and 5 pages, meaning this can easily be read, slowly but steadily, at the rate of one essay per day - a pace that would allow plenty of time for reflection.

Unique and Unmissable.

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