Includes bibliographical references (pages 299-320) and index.
Contents:
About this project. Prologue -- "There's a difference between history and nostalgia" : Monticello Plantation -- "An open book, up under the sky" : The Whitney Plantation -- "I can't change what happened here" : Angola Prison -- "I don't know if it's true or not, but I like it" : Blandford Cemetery -- "Our Independence Day" : Galveston Island -- "We were the good guys, right?" : New York City -- "One slave is too much" : Gorée Island -- "I lived it" : Epilogue -- About this project.
Summary:
"'This book is Clint Smith's contemporary portrait of the United States of America as a slave-owning nation. Beginning in his own hometown of New Orleans, Smith leads the reader through an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks, those that are honest about the past and those that are not, that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation's collective history, and ourselves" -- Provided by the publisher. Beginning in his hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader on an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks--those that are honest abou tthe past and those that are not--that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation's collective history and memory. It is the story of the Monticello plantation in Virginia, the estate where Thomas Jefferson wrote letters espousing the urgent need for liberty while enslaving more than four hundred people. It is the story of the Whitney Plantation, one of the only former plantations devoted to preserving the experience of the enslaved people whose lives and work sustained it. It is the story of Angola, a former-plantation-turned-maximum-security-prison in Louisiana that is filled with Black men who work across the 18,000-acre land for virtually no pay. And it is the story of Blandford Cemetery, the final resting place of tens of thousands of Confederate soldiers. A deeply researched and transporting exploration of the legacy of slavery and its imprint on centuries of American history, How the Word is Passed illustrates how some of our country's most essential stories are hidden in plain view--whether in places we might drive by on our way to work, holidays such as Juneteenth, or entire neighborhoods in downtown Manhattan, where the brutal history of the trade in enslaved men, women, and children has been deeply inprinted. Informed by scholarship and brought to life by the stories of people living today, Smith's debut work of nonfiction is a landmark of reflection and ingiht that offers a new undersatnding of the hopeful role that memory and history can play in making sense of our country and how it has come to be. -- From dust jacket.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.