In How the Word is Passed, Clint Smith visits eight places central to the history of slavery in America, including Thomas Jefferson's Monticello plantation and Louisiana's Angola prison.
The Atlantic and the author of the poetry collection
Counting Descent.
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Clint Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of the poetry collection
Counting Descent. Carletta Girma/Courtesy of Broadside
Growing up in New Orleans, Atlantic writer Clint Smith was surrounded by reminders of the Confederacy. To get to school, he traveled down Robert E. Lee Boulevard. He took Jefferson Davis Highway when he went to the grocery store.
In elementary and middle school, Smith never learned about the legacy of slavery. Instead, his class took field trips to plantations places that were the sites of torture and intergenerational chattel bondage, he says, but no one said the word slavery.
Slavery Wasn't 'Long Ago': A Writer Exposes The Disconnect In How We Tell History – Nation & World News wuft.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wuft.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.