CLOSURE: Central Library will be closed Tuesday, July 21, through Saturday, July 25, while emergency repairs are made to the building’s cooling system. We expect to reopen Monday, July 27. Click for more details on holds, program schedules, and returns during the closure. 

Notice of Public Meeting: Kalamazoo Public Library Board of Trustees | July 27 | 5:30 pm | Central Library/Van Deusen Room. The packet of information for the meeting can be found on the library’s website. 

Book

How the word is passed : a reckoning with the history of slavery across America

Call Number

  • 973.0496 S6447 (CEN, EAS, OSH, POW)

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Edition

First edition.

Publication Information

New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2021.

Physical Description

xiii, 336 pages ; 25 cm

Summary

How the Word is Passed is Clint Smith's revealing, contemporary portrait 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 nations collective history, and ourselves.

Contents

  • "The whole city is a memorial to slavery:" 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.

Subjects