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How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America

Book by Clint Smith · 3 quotes · Blacks, Slavery, African Americans

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How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America Quotes

“David sees it as essential that a guide be able to find the balance between telling the truth and not pushing people so much that they shut down. He told me that when you challenge people, specifically white people's conception of Jefferson, you're in fact challenging their conception of themselves. ...David knows that some visitors to Monticello arrive with an understanding of history that is not only misguided but also harmful. He has a difficult time disentangling this from the current political moment. "That's not the story of who we are," he said, referencing the language of Make America Great Again, "but some people really, for whatever reason, they want to believe that and they want to go back there, right? They want to go back to something that never existed.”

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Book:How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
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“White Southerners' commitment to the Confederate cause was not predicated on whether or not they owned slaves. The commitment was based on a desire to maintain a society in which Black people remained at the bottom of the social hierarchy.”

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“I asked [my grandfather] if there would ever be an America in which white Americans were not actively working to keep themselves positioned atop the racial hierarchy. He thought for a moment and then said, "Some of them will never give it up.”

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Book:How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
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