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A review by ivanainthecity
How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith
5.0
This book should be required reading for teachers. You can’t teach about the values, foundations, and history of the United States without addressing slavery. Clint Smith, a poet, journalist, & educator, visits different historical landmarks across the U.S. & abroad to examine “how slavery has been central in shaping our nation’s collective history and memory.”
This is by far one of my favorite books of the year. While it contains a LOT of historical facts, it is written in a digestible, narrative way, with Smith walking us through his different tours of the historical landmarks. Central to these visits is the question: “How do you tell a story that has been told the wrong way for so long?” Frustratingly, but not surprisingly, in some places, the story IS told the wrong way—toning tours down to spare white folks’ feelings, celebrating ~both sides~ of the Civil War, & downplaying the horrors of enslavement/imprisonment & the fact that the ~Founding Fathers~ literally raped & enslaved people while claiming to advocate for equality & freedom for ~all~ men.
Smith honors the work of those who are currently properly teaching about the horrors of slavery & the strength of those who were enslaved, often quoting the educators and letting their words speak for themselves. He also repeatedly makes a point that the history of Africans & other Black folks did not begin with bondage.
Nothing I say can ever do this book justice so I’ll leave y’all with Dr. Smith’s words:
“[O]ur country’s teachings about slavery, painfully limited, often focus singularly on heroic slave narratives at the expense of the millions of men and women whose stories might be less sensational but are no less worthy of being told...This... is part of the insidiousness of white supremacy; it illuminates the exceptional in order to implicitly blame those who cannot, in the most brutal circumstances, attain superhuman heights. It does this instead of blaming the system, the people who built it, the people who maintained it.”
This is by far one of my favorite books of the year. While it contains a LOT of historical facts, it is written in a digestible, narrative way, with Smith walking us through his different tours of the historical landmarks. Central to these visits is the question: “How do you tell a story that has been told the wrong way for so long?” Frustratingly, but not surprisingly, in some places, the story IS told the wrong way—toning tours down to spare white folks’ feelings, celebrating ~both sides~ of the Civil War, & downplaying the horrors of enslavement/imprisonment & the fact that the ~Founding Fathers~ literally raped & enslaved people while claiming to advocate for equality & freedom for ~all~ men.
Smith honors the work of those who are currently properly teaching about the horrors of slavery & the strength of those who were enslaved, often quoting the educators and letting their words speak for themselves. He also repeatedly makes a point that the history of Africans & other Black folks did not begin with bondage.
Nothing I say can ever do this book justice so I’ll leave y’all with Dr. Smith’s words:
“[O]ur country’s teachings about slavery, painfully limited, often focus singularly on heroic slave narratives at the expense of the millions of men and women whose stories might be less sensational but are no less worthy of being told...This... is part of the insidiousness of white supremacy; it illuminates the exceptional in order to implicitly blame those who cannot, in the most brutal circumstances, attain superhuman heights. It does this instead of blaming the system, the people who built it, the people who maintained it.”