Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019

Four Hundred Souls, A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 is a 2021 book edited and assembled by the American authors Ibram X. Kendi, whose other works include Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (2016) and How to Be an Antiracist (2019), and Keisha N. Blain. It comprises 90 essays by 80 Black writers and 10 Black poets. The book contains 10 parts, each part spanning 40 years and ending with a poem on the theme of the essays. Each writer’s essay spans a five-year period between 1619 and 2019. The writers include people of various genders, ages, and skin colors.

The editors chose the 400-year period covered in the book to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the White Lion, a contemporary ship of the Mayflower. The White Lion brought 20 Angolan slaves, not pilgrims. The editors argue that the arrival of the White Lion marks the beginning of America’s story, not the celebrated landing of the Mayflower.

The editorial choices of the book create a work in which “Each piece has been written distinctly while being relatively equal in length to the others, making for a cohesive and connected narrative with strikingly different—yet unified—voices. A choir” (xv).

This choral approach allows the writers to tell America’s story as a community. Their essays focus on various aspects of the centuries-long Black struggle in America, including housing discrimination, the horrors of the Middle Passage, the corruption of colonial baptism laws, civil rights movements like the Black Panther Party and Black Lives Matter, and more.

Four Hundred Souls is a tribute to what Black people in America have overcome and a rallying cry for more work to be done. It is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in human rights, global history, and the hope for a better world.