News Hartwick College Campus Read, Programming Focuses on Race, History, Equality

A New York Times #1 best seller is the focus of Hartwick College’s campus-wide read this fall. The book How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by writer, poet and scholar Clint Smith examines the legacy of slavery in America and how history and memory continue to shape our everyday lives.

The book and copies of Smith’s newest book of poetry, Above Ground, will be used in 22 courses involving over 500 students as part of a campus-wide effort to foster a dialogue about race, history, and America’s commitment to equality. Additionally, Kristin Jones, professor of economics, and Lisle Dalton, professor of religious studies, will use Clint Smith’s work as part of an Honors Program book club that they hope will encourage students to engage in conversation outside the classroom.

The read is being conducted in partnership with SUNY Oneonta, which will host Clint Smith on their campus at 7 p.m. Monday, October 23. Smith’s appearance, which will be held in the SUNY Oneonta Alumni Field House, is free and open to the public. Hartwick students reading Smith’s work will attend the talk and be encouraged to bring their friends. Hartwick College will provide free transportation to Smith’s October 23 talk.

In support of the talk, Hartwick’s Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging will offer pre- and post-discussions of Smith’s work. Alicia Richardson, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging officer, and Tessa Yang, assistant professor of English, will co-facilitate two opportunities for campus-wide discussion: 5 p.m. Wednesday, September 27, and 5 p.m. Wednesday, November 1. Both events will be held in room 103 in Golisano Hall.

“We are inviting campus community members into this meaningful conversation about the legacy of slavery in this country, “said Richardson. “By doing so, we acknowledge how race has shaped our society and how we experience the world, and we actively reject a desire to erase the difficult realities of our past.”

Funding for the Smith read, and pre-and post events is provided by the Office of Academic Affairs and the College’s Inclusive Pedagogy Speaker Series.

In addition to being a New York Times best-selling author, Clint Smith is a staff writer for The Atlantic. He is the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism, the Stowe Prize, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and selected by the New York Times as one of the 10 Best Books of 2021. Smith’s book of poetry, Counting Descent, won the 2017 Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award.

Smith has received fellowships from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, New America, the Emerson Collective, 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, and the Harvard Educational Review. Smith is a former National Poetry Slam champion and a recipient of the Jerome J. Shestack Prize from the American Poetry Review. He hosts the YouTube series, “Crash Course Black American History,” and can be found on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Smith received his bachelor’s degree in English from Davidson College and his doctorate in education from Harvard University.