Tag US History

How the Word is Passed book cover is strictly typography of the cover and the author's name. The subtitle reads "A reckoning with the history of slavery across America."

How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith

emilyhcls Leave a comment
How the Word is Passed book cover is strictly typography of the cover and the author's name. The subtitle reads "A reckoning with the history of slavery across America."

by Emily B.

Two years, five months, and seventeen days. That’s how long it took for President Lincoln’s Executive Order 95 to reach the last group of enslaved people in Galveston, Texas. Lincoln’s executive order, better known as the Emancipation Proclamation, declared freedom for all enslaved people in confederate states. Most slave owners chose not to inform their slaves of their freedom. But on June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger finally brought the message of freedom to Galveston. Juneteenth celebrations spread quickly throughout the South and persisted through hardships like the Great Depression and Jim Crow laws, finally being recognized as federal holiday in 2021.

Clint Smith visited Galveston to examine the history and celebration of Juneteenth in his book How the Word is Passed. Each chapter sees Smith explore different historic sites with significant slavery ties like Angola Prison, Whitney Plantation, and Gorée Island in Senegal. Do these sites distort the past in an effort to diminish the pain of enslaved people? Or do they educate and atone?

Throughout his journey, Smith ponders how differently the US might look if all Americans could reckon with the atrocities of slavery and the legacy left in its wake. It might be difficult and uncomfortable for some to read about the violence and suffering that enslaved people were forced to endure, but it’s a component of American history that cannot be ignored.

Part of what makes How the Word is Passed so wonderful is Smith’s approach to the project. During his travels, he interacts with tour guides, locals, and tourists to learn their perspectives and reflections. During his Monticello visit he meets two older women who were shocked to learn that Thomas Jefferson was a slaveowner. “It just took his shine off,” one woman remarked. “He might’ve done great things, but boy did he have a big flaw.”

Smith, a poet and a former high school English teacher in Prince George’s County, wrote this book with his students in mind and it shows. Smith’s prose is incredibly informative and impactful as he interrogates American history. I hope that one day soon this will be required reading.

The Word is Passed by Clint Smith is available in print, e-book, e-audiobook, and audiobook on CD.

TONIGHT: Songs of Freedom: Journey Along the Underground Railroad
For everyone.
Wed, Jun 18 | 7 – 8:30 pm
Carroll Baldwin Hall | 9035 Baltimore St, Savage
Harriet Tubman’s story comes alive through traditional code songs, modern melodies, and authentic narration. Journey along the Underground Railroad with historian Linda Harris as she chronicles her annual charity walks through the lens of local African American history.
Linda Harris is the Director of Events and Programming at the Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center in Cambridge, MD. Learn more about Linda Harris and the Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center at harriettubmanmuseumcenter.org
Registration is optional. Register to receive email reminders and updates about this class. Seating is first-come, first-served.
In partnership with Carroll Baldwin Hall

From US Library of Congress, print of Congress during the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson

The Failed Promise: Reconstruction, Frederick Douglass, and the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Kristen B. Leave a comment

“In this engrossing new book, Robert S. Levine has penned a nuanced and detailed study of the ‘hopes and frustrations of Reconstruction’ during Andrew Johnson’s presidency. While focusing on the relationship between Johnson and Frederick Douglass, the author also includes the views of numerous African American writers who witnessed Johnson’s transformation from self-styled ‘Moses to Black People’ to betrayer of Reconstruction. The Failed Promise is a lesson for our times as we continue to confront our nation’s unfulfilled promise of racial equality.” 

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., author of Stony the Road: Reconstruction, White Supremacy and the Rise of Jim Crow

Tuesday, Sep 21 from 7 – 8 pm online 

HCLS is pleased to welcome author Robert S. Levine as he discusses his new book, The Failed Promise: Reconstruction, Frederick Douglass, and the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, which tells the story of Frederick Douglass’ heated struggle with President Andrew Johnson over the rights of Black Americans in the years immediately following the Civil War. 

Professor Levine recounts the conflicts that led to Johnson’s impeachment from the perspective of Douglass and the wider Black community. Douglass believed that the Union victory in the Civil War, aided by nearly 200,000 Black soldiers, meant that African Americans should gain the full rights of U.S. citizenship, including the right to vote. Sadly, Black Americans and other minorities are continuing to fight for such rights. Douglass’ struggle with Johnson speaks to the promise and failure of Reconstruction, and to the struggles of our own moment as well. 

Learn more and register at bit.ly/failedpromise

Robert S. Levine is a distinguished University Professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is the author and editor of a number of books, including The Lives of Frederick Douglass, and he is the General Editor of The Norton Anthology of American Literature, the world’s most widely used American literature anthology. Visit his website for more starred reviews of The Failed Promise as well as a bibliography of his other writings.