New York was a factory of death

For his research on the “legacy of slavery”, Clint Smith traveled to hot spots in US history.

It is depressing that one of the most gruesome chapters in American history, slavery, has not been adequately addressed to this day. In his book What We Tell Us, journalist and author Clint Smith now combines facts with individual perspectives – and in doing so attempts to contribute to a more pronounced collective understanding of slavery in the United States and its consequences. To do this, he takes readers on journeys – which he undertook between 2017 and 2020 – to nine places related to slavery. Aside from historical insights, Smith reports interviews with people he met there, who relate from their point of view and give insight into what knowledge people in the United States and West Africa have in relation to slavery.

The first journey takes you to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s former country home in Virginia. There, after a guided tour of the area and a retelling of the founding father’s story, a retiree from the Southern states said he was disappointed: “Jefferson is not the man I thought he was.” the Declaration of Independence was not only an important political achievement and wrote about the equality of people, but that he also had 600 slaves who made his life of luxury possible through their work. The fact that he fathered several children with Sally Hemings, one of his slaves, was suppressed for a long time.