June Book of the Month: How the Word is Passed

Book of the Month: "How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America" by Clint Smith


About a year ago, I discovered How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith. While I’m not a huge non-fiction lover, this book reads like a poetic novel. I was able to engage it and finish it with ease. If you like to experience history through travel, if you have curiosities around slavery and how it continues to impact our country, or if you just enjoy a meaningful read, this month’s Book of the Month just might be for you!

Book Summary:
In How the Word is Passed, poet and Harvard alum, Clint Smith sets out to have a deeper understanding of slavery in America. Clint travels from his hometown, New Orleans, to places like Galveston, TX, the Monticello plantation in Virginia, and even to New York City. Along the way, Smith encounters a celebration of the confederacy and even learns of the continued connection of slavery and our present-day prison system. Clint ends his travels in Gorée Island on the edge of Dakar in West Africa. Throughout his travels, he encounters tourists and tour guides with varied perspectives and life experiences. His conversations with each of these create a meaningful and engaging book that I believe we all should read.

In the opening pages of the book, Clint quotes Frederick Douglass’ poem, “The Nation’s Problem.”  

Dougless writes:
"Our past was slavery. We cannot recur to it with any sense of complacency or composure. The history of it is a record of stripes, a revelation of agony. It is written in characters of blood. Its breath is a sigh, its voice a grown, and we turn from it with shudder. The duty of to-day is to meet the questions that confront us with intelligence and courage."

The question that I ponder after reading this book aligns with Douglass’ thoughts back in the 19th century.  Do we have a duty as a nation to confront the sin of slavery and the continued impact that it has today? And if so, what is that duty – especially as Christians?

How different would we be individually, relationally, and culturally if we all decided to learn about and accept the horrors of slavery past? How different would the U.S. be if we as Christians named and repented from our collective sin, acknowledging the pain that still lives so deeply in many of our bodies? What restorative healing might come to both individuals and our nation as a whole if we would humble ourselves and repent?

Why I chose this book for Redeemer:
If you are anything like me, as you get older, you’ve begun to realize that there are a lot of pieces of history that you just don’t know.  The older that I get, I’ve started to realize that some of my lack of knowledge is because parts of history have been handed down to us in pieces or through a particular lens.

I’ve discovered that some parts of history have been glossed over or even omitted intentionally.  And, over the last few years as I have settled back into living in the United States and as I sense the strong cultural (and often political) tension over how American history is told, I have become more curious about our nation’s racial past. I often wonder how some people could feel so angry and sad about cultural and political realities and others feel seemingly oblivious. Does that resonate?

As Christians, we sit in the tension of holding the Kingdom of God that has come through Jesus and we hold the pain and suffering because God’s Kingdom is not yet here in its fullness.

As a result of this tension and of just me maturing a bit, I have found myself desiring God’s Kingdom to move in redemptive and restorative ways in our country and break the strongholds that continue to hover over our racially-tense land.  

I believe that there are many of us at Redeemer who would love to move along with Christ in redemptive ways in our city.  I hope that this book might help us do that.

Why Read it Now?
As most of us know, June is a month when many of us observe Juneteenth, a day that memorializes the last slaves in Galveston, TX hearing the good news that they were no longer slaves.

In June, we also continue the liturgical season called ordinary time, where we confront the day in and day out joys, pains and challenges of every-day life.

If we are honest, in our ordinary lives, the sin of slavery still impacts how our country operates, how people hear political news, and how different ethnicities interact with each other. What a perfect time to read a book that shares one man’s experience visiting various sites in the U.S. and in West Africa and ponder what God might be inviting us into in this current moment as Christians.

An Invitation for Redeemer:
Redeemer, read this book! You won’t regret it! And, if you like to listen, the audio book is very well done.

God bless you (and I cannot wait to discuss!)
Pastor Adrienne