Until several months ago I had never read Uncle Tom’s Cabin. When I finally read it, I discovered that Uncle Tom was inspired by a formerly enslaved man named Josiah Henson. I’d never heard Henson. I wanted to learn more. Months of research led to this:

theatlantic.com/magazine/archi… Henson was one of the first Black people to be an exhibitor at a World’s Fair. He met with President Hayes and Queen Victoria. He built businesses that gave Black fugitives a livelihood after years of exploitation. He reportedly rescued 118 people, more than Harriet Tubman.

HOW THE WORD IS PASSED is out in paperback today and is available everywhere books are sold. I’m so appreciative of everyone who has spent time with this book and am excited for it to enter the world in this new, less expensive, and more accessible form.

littlebrown.com/titles/clint-s… Where to even begin? The past 18 months have been such an incredible journey. The way you all have embraced this book, shared this book, taught this book, discussed this book, highlighted this book, dog-eared this book, and wrestled with this book have blown me away.

Since my story exploring German remembrance of the Holocaust came out yesterday, I’ve really appreciated people sharing photos of Stolpersteine they’ve encountered, as well as those dedicated to their own family members. I’m going to share some. Please keep sending them.

https://twitter.com/volunteeralot/status/1592193372294639616

I’ve spent the past year visiting memorials, monuments, museums, and concentration camps in Germany, exploring how that country remembers the Holocaust. I wanted to understand if there was anything the U.S. could learn. Here’s the story of what I found:

theatlantic.com/magazine/archi… 2/ When I was writing my book, How the Word Is Passed, I was thinking a lot about what public memory looked like in the US, specifically in the context of slavery. After the book came out I began thinking more about what public memory to past crimes looked like in other countries

This week we put out the final episode of Crash Course Black American History. We worked on this series for over 3 years and put out 51 episodes spanning the transatlantic slave trade to the Black Lives Matter movement. I’m so proud of what we made.

youtube.com/playlist?list=… In 2018, I got an email from @johngreen asking me if I was interested in working on a new @TheCrashCourse history series they were trying to build out. At the time I was a PhD student working on my dissertation, so while I was honored to be asked, I wasn’t sure if I had the time.

I was recently on a flight to Charlotte, and when the flight landed two women, one Black one white, got into an argument after bumping into one another in the aisle. When they got off the plane, the white woman turned to the Black woman, red with anger, and called her the n-word. It had been many years since I heard that word used with that sort of unvarnished racism & venom. I was standing next to the Black woman as it happened. I was struck by a feeling that had, in an instant, swept over my entire body. Cortisol coursing through me. My skin on fire.

Very excited to share the cover of my new book, ABOVE GROUND. It’s a collection of poetry reflecting on family and fatherhood. It’s coming out March 28, 2023 and is now available for preorder. I really can’t wait to share this project with you all.

littlebrown.com/titles/clint-s… While I was writing How the Word Is Passed, my son and daughter were both born. My son is now 5, my daughter is 3. Having them in my life changed how I wrote that book. It changed how I understood the implications of slavery. My experience as a father is a part of every chapter.

Yesterday I made my way back to my alma mater, Davidson College, where my book was selected as the Common Read for new students. Truly a surreal experience being back on campus and talking to an auditorium full of Davidson freshman 16 years after being a Davidson freshman myself. Freshman Clint still had a hairline, still thought he might be a professional soccer player, and subsisted on a diet of 80% cheese quesadillas.

I feel grateful to have been at a place that allowed me to figure out who I was and what I cared about off the field.

I can’t believe this really just happened 🤯. Holy cow. So so grateful.

https://twitter.com/bookcritics/status/1504611583728791554

I’ve said this before but I’ll say it forever: this book is what it is because of the scholars, the public historians, the docents, the tour guides, the reenactors, the museum curators, and the descendants who shared their stories & time with me. This doesn’t happen without them.

Very excited about this. Providing people coming out of prison with a guaranteed stipend can help them keep stable housing, pay fines and fees to avoid reincarceration, invest in education, or even just take their kids out to dinner. All of these matter.

vox.com/platform/amp/2… There can sometimes be this sense that if you give money to people living in poverty and they don’t spend in on exactly what *you* think they should spend it on, that it was a waste. That’s wrong. It’s about economic stability, but it’s also about dignity & giving people agency.

Black History Month is a time where educators should take seriously the history of violence and oppression that have been done to Black people, but also make clear that Black life is not singularly defined by that violence. The story of Black life is far more expansive than that. Sometimes, people think of Black history only in terms of the trauma Black folks have experienced. But what it also important, I think, is telling the story of what Black folks have achieved, created, & overcome in spite of that. Both parts of this story should be told together.

When I was a high school English teacher, I was constantly blown away by how willing and how eager my students were to grapple with the difficult topics and questions that arose from books we read. Young people are capable of far more than many adults often give them credit for. Banning books that expose students to the atrocities and inequities of our world does not protect them. If anything, it leaves them less equipped to understand why our society looks the way that it does today. Teaching these histories honestly helps them make sense of who we are.

When I was writing HOW THE WORD IS PASSED one of the most striking things I encountered was that Angola, a prison built on a plantation, had a gift shop. I couldn’t believe some of the things I saw there. I just looked online, and still can’t believe it:

angolamuseum.org/shop If you prefer beer instead of liquor, there are also options for you. The Angola bottle koozie even comes with a design that has the silhouette of a watchtower surrounded by the words “ANGOLA: A Gated Community”

Your annual reminder that Dr. King believed in guaranteed universal basic income that gave all people a dignified life, guaranteed housing for all, guaranteed access to a high quality education, & said that “no one should be forced to live in poverty while others live in luxury.” (via “To Shape a New World” edited by Tommie Shelby & Brandon Terry)

Found out that students at my old high school are reading How the Word Is Passed in class, and as someone who wrote this book largely because it’s the sort of book I wish I had when I was in my American history class back then, this really means more than almost anything. The more I reflect on this, the more I think about 16-year-old me, who was inundated with messages—both implicit and explicit—about all the things society said were wrong with Black people, without being given the historical context to understand the racial disparities around me.

A few minutes ago Henry Montgomery, who has been in prison in Louisiana for 57 years—since he was 17 years old—was unanimously granted parole and will be a free man for the first time since 1963.

Congratulations to Mr. Montgomery and all who fought for him. Today is a good day. Montgomery was the petitioner in a 2016 Supreme Court case, Montgomery v Louisiana, in which the Court ruled that a 2012 decision which banned mandatory life without parole for children, could be applied retroactively. It has freed over 800 ppl & has now freed Montgomery himself.

The US is the only country in the world that sentences children to life without parole. One of those children was Henry Montgomery, whose 2016 Supreme Court case freed hundreds of people, except himself. He's been in prison for 57 years. He should be free. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/… It can be difficult to wrap your head around how long 57 years in prison is. It can sometimes seem like an abstraction. But in so many ways, it's a lifetime.
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

holy moly

https://twitter.com/nationalbook/status/1438578532968509442

Making the longlist for the National Book Award means more than I can say. I’m so grateful to be on a list that has so many writers and thinkers I admire, including my brother @NifMuhammad. So glad I get to share this moment with him.

Last month Connecticut became the first state in the country to make prison phone calls free. It’s a huge victory for the incarcerated and their families and will transform the lives of children with incarcerated parents. Every single state should do this. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/… During the public hearing on legislation to make prison phone calls free in CT, some ppl talked about how they couldn’t pay their rent, their gas, or their light bill because of the money they spent trying to stay in touch with a loved one. No one should have to make that choice.

Many people have reached out expressing frustration that their local bookstores are sold out of HOW THE WORD IS PASSED. I'm so grateful for the support, but also please be patient with indie bookstores who are doing the best they can to get the book to you as quickly as possible. Many independent bookstores, who are already struggling to survive, place small book orders because they have to be economically conservative in their business calculus. If they don't have a book in stock, just let them know you'd like them to order it and they'll get it to you.

I’m so grateful for the way that HOW THE WORD IS PASSED has been received in the world. This book is only possible because of the historians whose scholarship has transformed my understanding of slavery in America. Here is a thread of some of their books. I hope you buy them 🧵: "The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family" by @agordonreed

bookshop.org/books/the-hemi…