In this unflinching, honest narrative, an award-winning journalist
discovers his family's heritage as slave owners in the South and
grapples openly with his whiteness to inspire others to do the same.
"Bracing, candid, and rueful." --Kirkus
Baynard Woods thought he had escaped the backwards ways of the South
Carolina he grew up in, a world defined by country music, NASCAR, and
the confederacy. He'd fled the South long ago, transforming himself into
a politically left-leaning writer and educator.
Then he was accused of discriminating against a Black student at a local
university. How could I be racist? he wondered. Whiteness was a problem,
but it wasn't really his problem. He taught at a majority Black school
and wrote essays about education and Civil Rights.
But it was his problem. Working as a reporter, it became clear that
white supremacy was tearing the country apart. When a white kid from his
hometown massacred nine Black people in Charleston, Woods began to delve
into his family's history--and the ways that history has affected his
own life.
When he discovered that his family--both the Baynards and the
Woodses--collectively claimed ownership of more than 700 people in 1860,
Woods realized his own name was a confederate monument. Along with his
name, he had inherited privilege, wealth, and all the lies that his
ancestors passed down through the generations.
In this gripping and perceptive memoir, Woods takes us along on his
journey to understand how race has impacted his life. Unflinching and
uninhibited, Inheritance explores what it means to reckon with whiteness
in America today and what it might mean to begin to repair the past.
