# Reckoning with America’s history of slavery

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/fresh-air-214340/reckoning-with-america-s-history-of-slavery
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/fresh-air-214340/reckoning-with-america-s-history-of-slavery.md
Podcast: [Fresh Air](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fresh-air-214340)
Published: 2026-08-14T18:54:54+00:00
Episode link: https://www.npr.org/2026/08/14/nx-s1-5931760/reckoning-with-americas-history-of-slavery
Audio file: https://prfx.byspotify.com/e/play.podtrac.com/npr-381444908/npr.simplecastaudio.com/49850946-31c1-4953-8129-0d718420c400/episodes/d801ce2e-4eca-4408-a632-6c19b0bd4a77/audio/128/default.mp3?awCollectionId=49850946-31c1-4953-8129-0d718420c400&awEpisodeId=d801ce2e-4eca-4408-a632-6c19b0bd4a77&feed=jBsBZBHh&t=podcast&e=nx-s1-5931760&p=381444908&d=2803&size=44855467
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/fresh-air-214340/episodes/reckoning-with-america-s-history-of-slavery
Duration seconds: 2803

## Resource

Poet and writer Clint Smith says we are taught to think of slavery as something that happened a long, long time ago. But then he learned that his grandfather's grandfather had been enslaved. “This person who was so central to my life and my own identity is someone who was only a generation or two removed from a family member who had been born into slavery," he tells Terry Gross. Smith is the author of the bestselling book How the Word Is Passed , about distortions in how the history of slavery was taught to him and other children -- and the ways many Americans deceive themselves about that history. He's also the author of the collection of poetry called Above Ground . Also, critic at large John Powers reviews the new TV series Lanterns. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and curated playlists of archive interviews. Learn more at plus.npr.org . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/fresh-air-214340/episodes/reckoning-with-america-s-history-of-slavery/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/fresh-air-214340/reckoning-with-america-s-history-of-slavery.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.