Tracy K. Smith Mines History and Memory to Find 'Soul-Family'

“I am searching for the soul-family from whom I descend.” That’s how former U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith describes the impulse animating her latest book “To Free the Captives,” a chronicle of her endeavors to learn more about her father’s ancestors and the challenges they faced in the deep south of the early 20th century, born as they were “into a nation intent upon their diminishment and inured to their dying.” We talk to Smith about the histories she unearthed and what they reveal to her about herself, her family and a nation.

Guests:

Tracy K. Smith, poet; professor of English and of African and African American Studies, Harvard University. Her latest book is "To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul." She served as the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019.

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