I wish I had discovered this book sooner. I looked into it later, and the author wrote this as a PhD student. All I have to say to that is what a wonderful academic piece it is! Clint Smith traveled to different historical planatations throughout the country and did extensive research on both the history and the legacy of these historical sites. He interviewed people that had loyalties to the Confederate flag as well as people that had direct connections to those enslaved on these plantations. He explores the hypocrisy behind a lot of plantation owners, including Thomas Jefferson who defended liberty yet enslaved hundreds of people. 

Smith is a poet, and it manifests in his writing. Listening to the audiobook narrated by him brought his work to life. The writing style is both impactful and informative. He intermittently inserts relevant anectdotes related to his own life and his family's experiences with the Jim Crow South. This helps make the facts feel more tangible and relatable. He puts into perspective that both slavery and Jim Crow laws did not end too long ago in the grand scheme of things. This was an incredibly poetic exploration of the history of plantations in the United States. The author, Clint Smith, was doing research pertaining to his PhD when he wrote this. He is a poet and it shows through the prose used in his writing. The prose is digestable and flows like poetry as you read it at certain points. Smith sprinkle anecdotes of his family's own history with the Jim Crow South and how it affected their opportunites and how they were treated. 

Thomas Jefferson is one of the primary figures Smith explores who advocated for the freedom of man whilst owning hundreds of enslaved people himself. There are many examples of this in United States history some of which is explored in the text. Abraham Lincoln had the political interests of the Union at the forefront of his mind rather than the freedom of enslaved black people. Smith provides many historical examples that brings realism to these historical figures and takes them off of the pedestal that they are often put on. 

The most interesting part to me was listening to Smith tie in some of our modern problems of poverty, housing shortages, mass incarceration, and the racial inequality of the past and present. A lot of aspects of the Jim Crow South and slavery are sometimes referenced as if it happened long ago, when we in fact, continue to see the impacts of it today. This is by far one of the best books I have read this year. I recommend it to anyone who wants a respectful and well researched work pertaining to Civil War and Jim Crow South history.

Powerful. Compelling. Devastating. I learned a lot I didn’t know about myriad locations around the country (and world) that were and still are institutions of slavery and oppression. There’s a lot to unpack and reckon with about our history as a nation in this book and I think it’s worth the discomfort to know more about the nation’s real history. 

I was fortunate enough to meet Clint Smith and get a free signed copy at a university book event over a year ago, but I just now got to reading it. Smith is an amazing writer whose poetry clearly influences his prose, and it is written in such a compelling and beautiful book, even with the difficult subject matter. 

I cannot recommend reading this book, especially if you're trying to deconstruct what racism in America looks like. While there are so many lines I marked as pivotal to the book, the most important comes on page 289 in his epilogue, 

"The history of slavery is the history of the United States. It was not peripheral to our founding; it was central to it. It is not irrelevant to our contemporary society; it created it. This history is in our soil, it is in our policies, and it must, too, be in our memories."

Thoroughly researched with an extensive bibliography. A must-read. 

This is Smith’s first non-fiction, as he usually write poetry which comes through in the writing style of this work. He manages to place you in each of the locations as he describes the weather, the sounds, and the people around him. I learned and unlearned a lot of things from Smith’s book, continuing my education in the real history of the US (and in some cases Europe).

I know I say “this book is important” or “everyone should read this” quite often but if there’s only one book out of all my “should reads” that you grab, pick this one. It’s easily accessible in terms of language and content, not bogged down with information overload. Although it’s a heavy emotional read, it’s a fast read that had me staying awake late into the night.

 - I'm not sure if there's anything I can add to the discussion of HOW THE WORD IS PASSED, other than to concur with everyone that yes, this book is as vital and as good as everyone says it is.
- I learned a lot from this book: even if you're read a lot of history and antiracist literature, there's still more to excavate, and Smith brings it all up.
- Smith's inclusion of his personal experiences while visiting the sites in this book keep it from becoming a dry historical text. It does exactly what the sites are trying to do: bring the past into the present because it has never left us, as much as many of us try to pretend it has.