Reviews
How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith
professor_x's review against another edition
5.0
This was a work of art and great art can invoke emotions. It makes you think, makes you ponder. It changes the way you see the world. You can gain insight into someone else’s thoughts. “Walk a mile in their shoes” as the saying goes.
Clint Smith does a spectacular job doing just that. He illustrates in poetic detail the sites he visits in America and Africa and elucidates how these locations made him feel as a black man. Some of the sites, like Thomas Jefferson’s plantation, acknowledge its dark history; others like Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola, seem to obfuscate the truth. America is still reeling from its turbulent past. As Smith says, we often see black and white footage of people being beaten by police or being sprayed with water hoses and forget that this was reality in the U.S. only a couple of decades ago.
The final chapter touched me the most. Smith visits the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. with his grandparents. After their tour, he begins to ask them what they thought of the exhibits and how they felt. Their answers and the memories that bubble up of the Jim Crow south are heart-wrenching. I can’t imagine what it was like living in constant fear of being beaten. Or lynched. Looking at a white person the wrong way was enough to have you killed.
I chose to listen to the audiobook after watching Clint Smith narrate the Youtube series Crash Course Black History. He is a wonderful speaker and an amazing writer, and I look forward to his future work. Everyone should read this, especially given the current circumstances in America. It is important that we reckon with this history. Black history is American history. Chattel slavery was foundational in the creation of America. We cannot hide from it. Education is the key to freedom.
Clint Smith does a spectacular job doing just that. He illustrates in poetic detail the sites he visits in America and Africa and elucidates how these locations made him feel as a black man. Some of the sites, like Thomas Jefferson’s plantation, acknowledge its dark history; others like Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola, seem to obfuscate the truth. America is still reeling from its turbulent past. As Smith says, we often see black and white footage of people being beaten by police or being sprayed with water hoses and forget that this was reality in the U.S. only a couple of decades ago.
The final chapter touched me the most. Smith visits the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. with his grandparents. After their tour, he begins to ask them what they thought of the exhibits and how they felt. Their answers and the memories that bubble up of the Jim Crow south are heart-wrenching. I can’t imagine what it was like living in constant fear of being beaten. Or lynched. Looking at a white person the wrong way was enough to have you killed.
I chose to listen to the audiobook after watching Clint Smith narrate the Youtube series Crash Course Black History. He is a wonderful speaker and an amazing writer, and I look forward to his future work. Everyone should read this, especially given the current circumstances in America. It is important that we reckon with this history. Black history is American history. Chattel slavery was foundational in the creation of America. We cannot hide from it. Education is the key to freedom.
zosiablue's review against another edition
challenging
informative
sad
medium-paced
4.25
Incredibly powerful and personal. The author visits sites around US (and one in Africa) to explore those places' relationships with slavery. Most of the history I didn't know, including the chapter about the cemetery a mile from my parents' house, one I drove by every day on my last visit. The Angola prison section was especially shocking to me; I didn't know there was a gift shop attached to the prison mocking its cruelty. I also appreciated how the author was open about his own gaps here - parts he didn't know or details he focused on that later he realized weren't important. Smith is a poet, so occasionally the writing got a little purple, but not enough to detract. An important book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery, Genocide, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Classism, Colonisation, and Racism
Moderate: Violence, Torture, Physical abuse, and Grief
jlyons's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
arielsage's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0