In Four Hundred Souls, Ibram Kendi and Keisha Blain have assembled a great group of 90 writers and poets to tell the history of African Americans from 1619-2019. Each writer wrote an essay for every 5 years in Black history. The collection begins with Nikole Hannah-Jones's essay on the 1619 arrival of 20 Africans in Virginia and ends with an essay by Alicia Garza on the Black Lives Matter movement. The essays in this book flow and connect together well, unlike most edited volumes that I have rea...

I was really impressed with the overall scope of this book. Wildly ambitious. I loved how the book dealt with major known events and then minor characters all but lost to history. The different styles kept the book fresh. With 80+ voices it was a great way to be introduced to new to me writers and a great way to discover which things I want to dive deeper into. My criticism comes from the sometimes disjointed feel because some contributors wrote history some wrote memoir and that left the book f...

Unlike anything I've read before, Four Hundred Souls examines the 400 year history of African America through the chorus of Black voices working and writing today. It starts with the arrival of a few dozen enslaved Africans on the White Lion in 1619—pre-dating the Mayflower of 1620. Each chapter of this book accounts for 5 years of history and is written by a different author. Each author brings their own worldview, personal history, and/or critical lens to their assigned time period. It's fasci...

Talk about a historical tome… WOW! Ibram X Kendi and Keisha N. Blain did an amazing job if editing the history of African America for over four hundred years, with over 80 contributors in the form of poem, memoirs, bios and essays. If you are looking for an in-depth look into African American history, this is definitely the book to start with. Topics covered include Black Lives Matter, The Great Migration, The Code Noir, Maroons and Maroonage, Black Power, Queer Sexuality, Racial Passing, The Wa...

This is a very ambitious collection of essays covering the 400 year history of people of African ancestry who have been in America from 1619 through 2019. Each essay discusses a person, event, movement, art form, judicial decision, law, etc that illuminates a 5 year period. There are also 10 poetry interludes. Just a few topics: the Middle Passage, the codification of the slaves’ inhumanity, the role of religion, Jim Crow laws, the American Revolution, racial passing, Dred Scott, Zora Neal Hurst...

Beginning with the first slave ship that brought Africans to America in 1619, Four Hundred Souls, is an essential collection that brings lesser-known historical events to the forefront, with noteworthy contributions from a range of writers, historians, journalists, activists, and more—these ninety leading Black voices bring us a unique history lesson that successfully balances historical and personal context. ⁣⁣I’m telling you, the stories you will discover in this gem, is quit extraordinary. Fo...

I would have definitely added this book to my tbr anyway because it has Dr. Kendi’s name attached to it, but it was the whole concept of a collection of Black voices coming together to create a community history that captured my attention immediately and I was so happy when I received the ARC. In a way, this is like a follow up or companion to the 1619 project because that is the year the history in this book starts, with the tale of the first 20 or so Black people who were brought to the shores...

I read most of FOUR HUNDRED SOULS electronically thanks to an advanced copy from Netgalley, & then I finished it via audio thanks to an advanced copy from Libro.fm. it was so good that I plan to purchase a print copy, too. ..the editors Ibram Kendi & Keisha Blain are the best of the best historians currently. I had the privilege of interning for them when they co-edited the blog ‘Black Perspectives’ in 2017. ..FOUR HUNDRED SOULS includes contributions from so many leading activists & scholars of...

The stories in "Four Hundred Souls" begin to unfold in the year 1619, a year before the Mayflower when the White Lion disgorges "some 20-and-odd Negroes" onto the shores of Virginia. This would be the inaugurating of the African presence to what would become the United States and it serves as the starting point to this epic project co-edited by Ibram X. Kendi, acclaimed author of "How to Be An Antiracist," and Keisha N. Blain, author of "Set the World on Fire." What follows is truly epic, a one-...

review to come!

It is a testament to this book that I read it in just over one week given that I usually take much longer than this for a lengthy non-fiction book that, through four hundred souls, covers four hundred years of history. Not only did I learn so much, but the fact that it uses a different author for each five year section kept it interesting and fresh, and I loved the poetry throughout. This book is educational, emotional, and inspirational. We really need it right now, it is time for our country t...

FOUR HUNDRED SOULS: A Community History of African America, 1619 - 2019 edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain is such an outstanding book! I truly loved it! I loved the unique way this history was delivered in eighty chapters each a five year segment told chronologically by a different writer. I learned a lot throughout this whole book. I also really enjoyed how each part ended with a work of poetry. Upon finishing this book I was crying. It was really moving to read about this history. T...

”What we remember is just as revelatory as what we forget” ”If the Mayflower is the advent of American Freedom” (1619)... All white people on this journey can trace their lineage. The book thus far has me cultivated on audio. Hearing the storytelling while listening is gripping me to binge.Doing yoga at the moment while hearing this part paused to make notes to share. Pre-complete.Hoping to compel interests and curiosity. This book is transformative realism and spectacular truth all at once. Why...

This collection of essays and poetry penned by 90 writers is an impressive feat. In addition to discovering historical figures and contemporary scholars, I appreciated the parallels between the past and present. These parallels highlight the continuing struggle for African-Americans to become their ancestors' wildest dreams. Works by contributors I will pursue: Chlorine Sky Heavy: An American Memoir (his contribution affected me the most) Praise Song for the Butterflies The Cherokee Rose The Su...

“In August 1619, when the 20 negroes stepped off the ship White Lion and saw British faces, they didn’t know.” They didn’t know that they were inadvertently “pregnant with community”, the unfortunate pioneers that would symbolically mark the birth date of African America. They didn’t know that they would become the prologue for 400 years of variegated African American history: a history of enslavement, murder, rape, rebellion, self-actualisation, abolition, of persistent prejudice, pain and comm...

3 stars: I liked it.First of all, know that reading this book properly will feel like work, like reading a history textbook would. It's not a standalone history textbook, though - more like a collection of those "spotlight on" or sidebar discussions that are sprinkled throughout history textbooks.For the most part, I think this book succeeds at its goal of sharing American history through the voices of African Americans. I agree that Black history is marginalized in schools, and it is important

https://portside.org/2021-02-07/how-t...How to Tell 400 Years of Black History in One BookFrom 1619 to 2019, this collection of essays, edited by two of the nation’s preeminent scholars, shows the depth and breadth of African American historyFebruary 7, 2021 Karin Wulf In August of 1619, the English warship White Lion sailed into Hampton Roads, Virginia, where the conjunction of the James, Elizabeth and York rivers meet the Atlantic Ocean. The White Lion’s captain and crew were privateers, and t...

Learned more about American history from this book than the entirety of my “top-notch” AP US History education. Highly, highly recommend.

Incredible. I already know that I need to read it again. The format - a stitched-together patchwork of essays from different voices - pays beautiful homage to the content.

An introductory collage of significant and important milestones in the African American journey in America with fantastic writers, poets and scholars providing context on everything from movements to Supreme Court decisions. There are ten parts, and some contributions are personal, others are third-person and read a little more distant.

With February being Black History Month, I made the conscious decision to only read black authors this month. While I was doing research about which books to read, I came across Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America. This ambitious project is the brainchild of Ibram X. Kendi, the author of the best-selling book How to be an Antiracist, and Keisha N. Blain, the author of Set the World on Fire. In it, 90 different authors tell the story of Black America in 5-year increments, d...

In 2018, Ibram X. Kendi is looking for a way to commemorate the 400th symbolic birthday of Black history. So he enlists the help of his co-editor Professor Keisha N. Blain. And together they bring together 80 authors and 10 poets to author “Four Hundred Souls."They create a community of writers to write the history of the Black community.In the book, each writer authors a short chapter about a specific 5-year period between 1619 to 2019. The book begins with the landing of the White Lion on the

(Disclaimer: I received this book from the Libro.fm. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.) Four Hundred Souls tackles the history of Black America. The injustices, ways it's been constructed, obscured, and oppressed. Their defenses, the ways it's been shaped, and their efforts to reclaim their history. The audio book, which I would highly recommend features a full cast recording. This unique presentation lends emotion, character, and strength to their words. It brings t

“What you are about to read is the story of the first war on terror. No... wait.This is actually the origin story of second-wave white supremacy known as ‘Jim Crow laws.’This is a war narrative. This is a horror story, but it’s also a suspense thriller that ends in triumph. It also ends in tragedy. It’s a true story and a fantastic myth. This is a narrative, nonfiction account of the all-American fairy tale of liberty and justice for all. Behold, the untold story of the Great American Race War.B...

4.5 stars. Just by looking at the list of contributors alone, I knew this book would be both enrapturing and enlightening. I gained a lot from reading this book and am incredibly grateful for the efforts of Drs. Blain and Kendi in bringing these voices together. The most difficult thing for me, though, was the shortness of each chapter. With each chapter covering approximately five years and lasting only five pages at the most, there were times where lots of information was crammed into the writ...

My favorite history is always the one told from many viewpoints. And this “unique community history of African Americans” blew me away. This collection of essays, short stories and more covered so many viewpoints and perspectives from 1619 to 2019. I loved that Kendi and Blain and their 90 contributors brought to life so much important history.Like Stamped From The Beginning and A People’s History of the United States, this is a must read for all.The audiobook narration was amazing and you reall...

This was one of the best books I’ve ever read. I thought it was so thoughtful and intentionally done that it was informative, beautiful, and damning all at once. I felt like I was reminded of many things but told in a different and truthful voice, but also learned so many new things left out by our history books. Many stories even brought tears to my eyes (Jesse Washington, Otis Moss Sr.). I highly recommend this. “Black people don’t need allies. We need decent people possessed of the moral conv...

Four Hundred Souls offered me an insightful look into myself as well as the history of my country. The stories and perspectives in it taught me things I didn't know, and reminded me of things I'd forgotten, but most importantly it clarified many facets of what it means to be Black, and what it should mean to be human. It's a call to action as well as a history of actions, and I hope to be a better ally and advocate for change going forward.

This is definitely a book to go back to time and time again. This will be in my very small list of books that I will reread. Each chapter is beautifully written and easy to return to later. Many stories I have heard before, many I have not. The individual writers make it come to life in a much more immediate way than if it were from an academic historical account. This is a book that stays with you.

ambitious in scope but it’s not as in depth as i thought it would be. it feels more like a jumping off point for further research on the topics within. there’s A LOT of people and events in here that i had never heard of that i’ll certainly investigate further.while the audiobook is great, i wish i would have read a physical copy so i could have taken notes/annotated it. either way, would highly recommend!oh, and it’s the first book i’ve read this year to make me cry