Four Hundred Souls

A Community History of African America, 1619-2019

De: Ibram X. Kendi - editor, Keisha N. Blain - editor

Narrado por: full cast

A chorus of extraordinary voices comes together to tell one of history’s great epics: the 400-year journey of African Americans from 1619 to the present - edited by Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist, and Keisha N. Blain, author of Set the World on Fire.

The story begins in 1619 - a year before the Mayflower - when the White Lion disgorges “some 20-and-odd Negroes” onto the shores of Virginia, inaugurating the African presence in what would become the United States. It takes us to the present, when African Americans, descendants of those on the White Lion and a thousand other routes to this country, continue a journey defined by inhuman oppression, visionary struggles, stunning achievements, and millions of ordinary lives passing through extraordinary history.

Four Hundred Souls is a unique one-volume “community” history of African Americans. The editors, Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain, have assembled ninety brilliant writers, each of whom takes on a five-year period of that four-hundred-year span. The writers explore their periods through a variety of techniques: historical essays, short stories, personal vignettes, and fiery polemics. They approach history from various perspectives: through the eyes of towering historical icons or the untold stories of ordinary people; through places, laws, and objects. While themes of resistance and struggle, of hope and reinvention, course through the book, this collection of diverse pieces from ninety different minds, reflecting ninety different perspectives, fundamentally deconstructs the idea that Africans in America are a monolith - instead it unlocks the startling range of experiences and ideas that have always existed within the community of Blackness.

This is a history that illuminates our past and gives us new ways of thinking about our future, written by the most vital and essential voices of our present.

Read by a full cast, including:

Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Amir Abdullah, Ryan Vincent Anderson, Kristen Ariza, Dashawn Barnes, Joshua Bennett, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Andre Blake, Torian Brackett, Donte Bonner, Mahogany L. Browne, Ron Butler, Kellie Carter-Jackson, Brianna Collette, Karen Chilton, Sean Crisden, Keith David, Angela Y. Davis, William DeMeritt, Leonard Dozier, Robin Eller, Kevin R. Free, James Fouhey, Alicia Garza, Dion Graham, Danai Gurira, Jerome Harmann-Hardeman, Jamal Henderson, Ethan Herisse, Susan Heyward, Cary Hite, Dominic Hoffman, Sherrilyn Ifill, James Monroe Iglehart, JD Jackson, Zainab Jah, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Sullivan Jones, Peter Francis James, Terrence Kidd, January LaVoy, Adam Lazarre-White, Keylor Leigh, Nicole Lewis, Dennis Logan, Chante McCormick, Desmond Manny, Jesus Martinez, Heather McGhee, Sheryl Mebane, Robin Miles, Karen Murray, Soneela Nankani, Leon Nixon, Soledad O’Brien, Leslie Odom, Jr., Adenrele Ojo, Genesis Oliver, Prentice Onayemi, Tovah Ott, Morgan Parker, Imani Parks, Lisa Renee Pitts, Imani Jade Powers, Rhett Samuel Price, Bill Quinn, Phylicia Rashad, David Sadzin, Joshua David Scarlett, Heather Alicia Simms, Shayna Small, Patricia Smith, Marisha Tapera, Tashi Thomas, Damian Thompson, TL Thompson, Ella Turenne, Bahni Turpin, Anita Welch, Jade Wheeler, Samira Wiley, Zenzi Williams, Mirron Willis, Andia Winslow, Kai Wright, and with co-editors Ibram X. Kendi, and Keisha N. Blain

©2021 Respective authors of all material within (P)2021 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“The authors, each in their individual voice, raise a Black chorus, demystify racial assumptions, connect the dots of law and jurisprudence, lay the unspoken cultural truths bare, look at the engineering of the foundational aspects of institutional racism and show an America ashamed of its history. . . . Feel the endurance and resilience of how Blacks resisted, revolted, organized, demanded, protested and rebelled. Feel the joy in the absurdity of remaining American in the face of such obstacles.” (George McCalman, San Francisco Chronicle)

“This collection teaches us that nothing about the latest crisis is new - that for four hundred years, Americans have whistled a ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’ tune of national self-congratulation while reliving repeating cycles of racial violence and hypocrisy. . . . This project is a vital addition to that curriculum on race in America and should serve as a gateway to the solo works of all the voices in Kendi and Blain’s impressive choir.” (The Washington Post)

“Two leading scholars of Black culture gather writers from across genres in this provocative, stirring anthology on the traumas and triumphs of African Americans across four centuries. From journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones on Jamestown’s first slaves to historian Annette Gordon-Reed’s portrait of Sally Hemings to the seductive cadences of poets Jericho Brown and Patricia Smith, Four Hundred Souls weaves a tapestry of unspeakable suffering and unexpected transcendence.” (O: The Oprah Magazine, “20 of the Best Books of February 2021 to Fall in Love With”)

Sensational historical telling

This book tells a series of stories about this sordid historical look at the landscape of American life over the last 400 years as African Americans.

Wow! Wow! Wow!

This book it packed with so much history! A must read and should be mandatory reading in schools.

MUST READ

This book was wonderful. As someone who knows a lot of Black in America history, I learned so much. There was an added touch the actors gave me of that brought the book to life so much. As if I was watching a movie versus listening to a book. I cannot wait to this again and have a dialog with my children.

Excellent

I rarely write reviews but couldn’t really help it this time. I learned sooo much and my eyes have been opened a little more. I’m going to listen to this over and over and recommend it to all my family and friends. Thank you to all who put this together!

American History Enlightened

The most important stories never told. A must read for this moment of the movement.

stories I had never heard before.

Loved the different voices and a hearing a perspective that gave fullness and new awareness to evil I am as a person and part of the white culture that imparted so much evil on people of color.

the audio stopped playing!

I feel like I've been robbed of history again. this time i paid for it out of pocket.

Loved It!

During today's turbulent times, "400 Souls," helps me make sense of it all. Our shared history, at least the one I learned in K-12, exhorted democracy as the nation's most cherished value. By reading the African-American history of this country, I now more fully understand how we arrived in a place that would allow 'race' to trump democracy (pun intended). It appears racism and 'White Supremacy' is the deepest held value of our nation for far too many of my fellow citizens. People need to know this country's full history. Learn from it and chart a better course for the future. When you know better. You should DO better. Let's all do better because 'We Can!'

very informative and enjoyable

Please take the time to listen. I believe it will definitely be a blessing to you.

Thank you!

🤍 I am filled with gratitude for this Brilliant truth and for all of the incredible leadership - past and present - that went into the telling of these important stories.