Posted on Jan 17, 2022
In 'Four Hundred Souls,' 90 Writers Tell Their Stories Of 4 Centuries Of African America
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"Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019" collects the work of 90 writers — historians, poets, journalists, novelists and activists — to tell the stories of Black Americans, from the arrival of the White Lion, which brought enslaved people to the colonies in 1619, to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones writes a chapter on the arrival of the White Lion, a harrowing tale which she calls “classically American.”
“The Adams and Eves of Black America did not arrive here in search of freedom or better life. They had been captured and stolen, forced onto a ship, shackled, writhing in filth as they suffered and starved,” she writes. “Some 40% of Angolans who boarded that ghastly vessel did not make it across the middle passage. They embarked not as people but as property.”
Scholars Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain, who edited “Four Hundred Souls,” have been thinking about the 400th year anniversary of Black America for some time.
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones writes a chapter on the arrival of the White Lion, a harrowing tale which she calls “classically American.”
“The Adams and Eves of Black America did not arrive here in search of freedom or better life. They had been captured and stolen, forced onto a ship, shackled, writhing in filth as they suffered and starved,” she writes. “Some 40% of Angolans who boarded that ghastly vessel did not make it across the middle passage. They embarked not as people but as property.”
Scholars Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain, who edited “Four Hundred Souls,” have been thinking about the 400th year anniversary of Black America for some time.
In 'Four Hundred Souls,' 90 Writers Tell Their Stories Of 4 Centuries Of African America
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel You know the Right don't wqant to hear this...
..."They wanted to capture centuries of stories and create a physical product that “could not only write history, but be history,” Kendi says.
The editors brought together a community of Black writers who could tell that history as they see it. Generations from now, readers will be able to dive into “Four Hundred Souls” and get a glimpse into the mindset of Black Americans on the 400th year mark, Kendi explains.
Each section of the book covers 40 years, beginning in 1619 and ending in 2019. Every writer covers a five-year period, and together, the pages make up what is the first single-volume history of Black Americans that we know of.
Many of the anecdotes on resilience and rebellion, specifically within the pages devoted to enslavement of Black people, may be new to readers. The bulk of the book focuses on the time period when Black people were enslaved, Kendi says, a history that many Americans are quick to move past. But more than anything, these stories showcase Black Americans’ humanity in their fight for freedom, Kendi says.
For Blain, compiling this collection was a “moving experience” that took both editors by surprise at times, she says.
“What's amazing about history and certainly about Black history is that there are always new stories to uncover,” she says.
Writers unpacked a wide set of historical figures and moments as they grappled with how these past experiences shaped current-day America politically and socially. This historical through line into the present was intentional, Blain says.
“Even when a writer does not explicitly talk about 2020 or 2019, it's clear that they are thinking about how history shapes the present moment,” she says."...
..."They wanted to capture centuries of stories and create a physical product that “could not only write history, but be history,” Kendi says.
The editors brought together a community of Black writers who could tell that history as they see it. Generations from now, readers will be able to dive into “Four Hundred Souls” and get a glimpse into the mindset of Black Americans on the 400th year mark, Kendi explains.
Each section of the book covers 40 years, beginning in 1619 and ending in 2019. Every writer covers a five-year period, and together, the pages make up what is the first single-volume history of Black Americans that we know of.
Many of the anecdotes on resilience and rebellion, specifically within the pages devoted to enslavement of Black people, may be new to readers. The bulk of the book focuses on the time period when Black people were enslaved, Kendi says, a history that many Americans are quick to move past. But more than anything, these stories showcase Black Americans’ humanity in their fight for freedom, Kendi says.
For Blain, compiling this collection was a “moving experience” that took both editors by surprise at times, she says.
“What's amazing about history and certainly about Black history is that there are always new stories to uncover,” she says.
Writers unpacked a wide set of historical figures and moments as they grappled with how these past experiences shaped current-day America politically and socially. This historical through line into the present was intentional, Blain says.
“Even when a writer does not explicitly talk about 2020 or 2019, it's clear that they are thinking about how history shapes the present moment,” she says."...
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