In this moving exploration of places with inseverable ties to America's practice of slavery, Clint Smith brings his readers with him to grapple with the memory of slavery, examine how it is remembered, explore how it should be remembered, and meet the people both helping and hindering this country with an honest reckoning. There are examples of good-faith efforts and intentional obstruction as well as demonstrations of the vast web of slavery economics that often gets forgotten in our collective national memory.

How the Word is Passed is not a history of chattel slavery. It isn't a history of post-Civil War emancipation. It is a history of memory. The Germans have a word for this specifically with regard to the Holocaust: Vergangenheitsbewältigung, literally the overcoming of problems of the past. While the history of the practice of slavery itself is not something everyone needs to dive deep to understand, this history of how we remember is important to everyone because our collective national memory of African enslavement was tailored by pro-Confederate groups after the Civil War, sanitized and made consumable. It is not the truth, even if it feels more comfortable to us. This practice of questioning, dismantling, and reshaping the average American's understanding of how slavery impacted societies then and how it continues to impact society now is one of the many avenues to bring about much needed change. 

White Americas practice of enslaving people of African descent is a difficult subject even for those of us who want to have the hard conversations. Smith and those who are working to improve our collective national memory--to make it more honest and move away from nostalgia--are gentle but firm, asking hard questions and expecting those listening to engage with the discomfort that comes from such discussions. 

The first two chapters of this book hit especially close to him for me, literally. As a Louisiana native, I grew up going to plantations and Civil War battle grounds for classes and for family outings. As I've gotten older, visiting these sites has gotten harder specifically for the issues Smith highlights in this book. The enslaved people on those plantations are still rarely talked about on tours, though I do believe some places are improving. In my 18 years in the state, however, I had never even heard of the Whitney Plantation. It is now on my list of places to visit as soon as I am able. 

More startling, though, was the chapter on the Louisiana State Penitentiary, or Angola. I drove past the turn-off for the prison every time I traveled to Arkansas to visit family. I passed the same road and got stuck in the Angola Prison Rodeo traffic on a regular basis when I volunteered at a Girl Scout camp nearby. I knew of the prison, and I grew up with my mother being horrified by the rodeo, but the rest of what Smith lays out was news to me. I was also well aware of the convict lease system that takes advantage of the state's imprisoned population. Even Louisiana's heinous lack of unanimous jury was something I had learned about just recently before reading this book. But the fact that you could tour the prison, even death row? That it was a former plantation? That the incarcerated workers make only seven cents an hour for their labor? I'm horrified and hope even more for the continued push for reforms in the state. 

I hope that our country is moving in the right direction when it comes to our collective understanding of slavery and the role it has played in the continued subjugation of Black Americans. Clint Smith's How the Word is Passed gives some hope to that end but also highlights just how far we have to go. 

Absolute must read. Beautifully written, heartbreaking, and hopeful all at the same time. This is a stunning work

Wow, this book is worth all the praise. Smith takes us to each place along his journey and helps us feel we are there while simultaneously holding our hands and showing us the things we wouldn't see without him.

He manages to have such compelling conversations with people in each place and bring us into those conversations at well. Thinking about how we remember things and how we pass on that remembrance to others or to future humans and in doing so how we are telling them and ourselves the stories we want to hear.

Just a spectacular read all around.

This was such an excellent book. I have an interest in learning about the system of enslavement and exploitation of Black, Indigenous and other Peoples of Colour that the USA has been built upon, so I had high expectations for this one. It was even better than I hoped. Smith has framed his examination of history through visits to key locations in the USA and Africa. He writes in a style that is a mix of conversational anecdotal experiences, and beautifully framed observations and analysis. It was extremely readable and engaging, not dry at all. 
I was filled with all the feelings as I listened to this book. I feel so strongly that we all, but especially those of us from privileged positions, have a responsibility to learn, and to unlearn our histories. 
Highly recommended. Go get this one. Read it. 
Let me know what you think. 
❤️📚
** edit. This is a book about the profoundly violent exploitation of Black people for hundreds of years, and the white people who blithely (and often proudly) committed this violence. There are many depictions of white people doing and saying violent and callous things towards Black people, and then justifying themselves. There are many CW for Black readers, and for other people of colour. 💗

Part history compilation, part piece of journalism and partly the authors own reflections, but primarily I was fascinated by how Smith keeps coming back to how we teach others about slavery, both in America and abroad. A lot of the images described in this book, as well as the writing, will stick with me for a long time. 

An excellent nonfiction book very grounded in different locations across the US (with one exception). It's a history and discussion on the slave trade within the US and how the US twists itself up to avoid confronting it. Smith spends each chapter in the book at a different site and on a different tour discussing the slave trade in the United States, and interviews some of the individuals on the tour as well as the organizations conducting them.

I highly recommend for everyone to read this - although definitely look for some own voice reviews on this book. I found How the Word is Passed is approachable and without apology. Smith is an excellent writer and I loved the way he wove his own narrative throughout the story. 

A phenomenal book that will continue to have a profound impact for years to come. Smith’s methodology and interviews are what scholarship should be, period. A must read, gripping, and compelling. The audiobook and the author’s reading really helped me absorb the information of each site he visited. I can’t recommend this book enough. It details the history of slavery using specific sites in the US and shows the continuing effects in a very real way. 5/5 

Just an all-around fantastic book. As someone who majored in history in undergrad, I really appreciate Smith’s contemplation of the intersection of memory and history, and how places explore (or fail to explore) the dark and gruesome past when it comes to slavery and racism in the United States. Something we talked about a lot in one of my history courses years ago is while history itself is comprised of discrete, objective facts, that’s not necessarily true of the act of *telling* history—the question at the end of the day is how close the teller is to the truth of what happened. Smith leans into this idea with deftness and skill, urging his readers to think critically about how the darkest parts of US history are packaged and presented.

Smith’s book is not only a foray into history itself, but the role of collective and selective memory (and, as he mentions, nostalgia). It’s a searing indictment of the ways in which many historical sites in the United States have failed to educate visitors on, and purposely obfuscated, the role such places played in chattel slavery, and the role that chattel slavery played in the US more broadly. I also really appreciated the final chapter on Gorée, as the experiences of enslavement, exploitation, and colonization in West Africa are inextricably bound to the story of chattel slavery in the US. 

In my opinion, this should be required reading for all high school students, particularly at a time where many in the US seek to throw a veil over the legacy of slavery, genocide, and racism in this country. All the stars to this book—Clint Smith is just excellent.

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