Beginning in his hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith takes a tour of the places that tell the story of how slavery has shaped our nation's collective history, and ourselves. In this winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, Smith explores the deeper meaning of Monticello, where the author of the Declaration of Independence enslaved 400 people; Angola, a plantation that became a maximum security prison where Black men work for virtually no pay; and Blandford Cemetery, final resting place of tens of thousands of Confederate soldiers.