The brilliant Clint Smith is featured in this encore episode to discuss his book How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America which reached #1 on The New York Times bestseller list. We talk about his pilgrimage across America in search of history and truth. Clint also shares about becoming a new father and how that experience has changed him. I love this man and the beauty he embodies. Clint Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He has previously received fellowships from New America, the Art For Justice Fund, Cave Canem, and the National Science Foundation. His essays, poems, and scholarly writing have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Poetry Magazine, The Paris Review, The Harvard Educational Review and elsewhere. His first full-length collection of poetry, Counting Descent, was published by Write Bloody Publishing in 2016. It won the 2017 Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award, and was selected as the 2017 ‘One Book One New Orleans’ book selection. Clint’s debut nonfiction book, How the Word Is Passed, explores how different sites across the country reckon with, or fail to reckon with, their relationship to the history of slavery. It will be published by Little, Brown in June 2021. Clint is a 2014 National Poetry Slam champion and a 2017 recipient of the Jerome J. Shestack Prize from the American Poetry Review. He was named to the 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 list as well as Ebony Magazine‘s 2017 Power 100 list. His two TED Talks, The Danger of Silence and How to Raise a Black Son in America, collectively have been viewed more than 9 million times. Subscribe for Free to Never Miss an Episode Click the appropriate link to follow the show so you get every episode of What Matters Most as soon as they're available! Your Review of What Matters Most Helps the Show Reach More People! If you enjoyed this -- or any! -- episode of the What Matters Most podcast, please leave a review of the show! Reviews help boost the show in rankings, which makes it more visible... and that means more listeners! It's a great way to spread the word about What Matters Most! Create your review - click here! Help Support Future Episodes! What Matters Most is 100% listener supported by generous pledges from people just like you. Did this episode speak to you? Please consider pledging your support for as little as $5.00 per month... or pledge at higher levels and enjoy perks like a guided meditation audiobook, a library of Paul Samuel Dolman e-books... and more! Read the Book That Inspires the Show Paul Samuel Dolman, author, podcaster, and speaker, presents What Matters Most (the book!) a series of interview transcriptions from more than twenty inspirational Nashville and Tennessee residents, including special guest the journalist and author Bill Moyers. Nashville Mayor Megan Barry, former Governor Don Sundquist,