How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, by Clint Smith
2023-24 Book in Common
Chapter Resources for Readers, Teachers, and Learners
Resources for Memory and Commemoration Studies
“Clint Smith chronicles in vivid and meditative prose his travels to historical sites that are truth-telling or deceiving visitors about slavery. Humans enslaved Black people, and then too often enslaved history. But How the Word Is Passed frees history, frees humanity to reckon honestly with the legacy of slavery. We need this book.” ―Ibram X. Kendi, 2020-21 Chico State Book in Common author, and Director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research
“Sheds light on the contested narratives beneath the surface of our collective national identity, inviting us to dig a little deeper, reminding us never to take received histories for granted.” ― Eve L. Ewing, Associate Professor in the Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity at the University of Chicago
Author's visit to Chico State
Clint Smith will speak at Laxson Auditorium on April 11, 2024, at 7:30pm
Teaching the Book in Fall 23?
Faculty, click here to let us know if you are teaching all or part of How the Word is Passed, and let us know if you need additional information or resources about each chapter.
Planning Team
Email bic@csuchico.edu to join this team in organizing events and resources for our community read of Clint Smith's How the Word is Passed.
Or if you don't have time to join the planning team, but have ideas for events or resources please let us know!
We acknowledge and are mindful that Chico State stands on lands that were originally occupied by the first people of this area, the Mechoopda, and we recognize their distinctive spiritual relationship with this land, the flora, the fauna, and the waters that run through campus. We are humbled that our campus resides upon sacred lands that since time immemorial have sustained the Mechoopda people and continue to do so today.