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

Smith visits the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) with his mother’s father and father’s mother. Smith notes that the NMAAHC “capture[s] so much of Black America’s complex relationship with this country” (271) and “recognizes that Blackness […] is the foundation upon which the country was built” (272). Having walked past a statue of Thomas Jefferson bearing the names of those he enslaved, a display of a KKK robe, and a picture of a lynching, Smith and his grandparents arrive at the room dedicated to Emmett Till. As they look at the casket, Smith’s grandfather tells him that Till used to live a few miles away from him. This prompts Smith to think about his grandparents’ experiences of the country. 

Before conversing with his grandfather in the living room in New Orleans, he includes an excerpt providing historical context for the year of his grandfather’s birth—slavery had only ended 60 years prior, and the Great Depression and Great Migration were at their height. Smith describes his grandfather, born in Monticello, Mississippi, as professorial and distinguished in his demeanor. Smith’s grandfather talks about his experience of school, noting that education for Black children was sparse.