Through the powerful stories of five enslaved people who were "owned" by four of our greatest presidents, this book helps set the record straight about the role slavery played in the founding of America. From Billy Lee, valet to George Washington, to Alfred Jackson, faithful servant of Andrew Jackson, these dramatic narratives explore our country's great tragedy--that a nation "conceived in liberty" was also born in shackles.

"'How the Word is Passed' is Clint Smith's revealing, contemporary portrait of America as a slave owning nation. Beginning in his own hometown of New Orleans, Smith leads the reader through an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks - those that are honest about the past and those that are not - that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nations collective history, and ourselves."--

Traces the history of emancipation and its impact on the Civil War, discussing how Lincoln and the Republicans fought primarily for freeing slaves throughout the war, not just as a secondary objective in an effort to restore the country.

The underground railroad was not a transportation system with metal tracks and whistiling trains that zipped along a grid of tracks through tunnels below the ground. Instead, this system was an organized network of people who-in utmost secrecy-helped others escape the bonds of slavery. The routes to freedom were filled with danger, but the risks were worth it. Climb aboard to travel back in time and find out how this system of "passengers", "conductors",...

"46.8 million Americans identify as Black and make up 14 percent of the population. Fourteen percent might seem like a relatively small portion of Americans in general. But as the centuries of struggle by Black Americans--first to escape slavery and then to try to achieve true equality in its ugly wake--neatly parallels the story of American democracy itself"--