Clint Smith is the author of the narrative nonfiction, How the Word is Passed, and the poetry collection, Above Ground. Clint joins Chris to talk about the cognitive dissonances that shaped American history. From understanding the complexities of Thomas Jefferson, who wrote “all men are created equal” while enslaving over 600 people – to reflecting on growing up in New Orleans – a major site for domestic slave trades, Clint urges you to examine historical contradictions. He also discusses his love for poetry and why it’s crucial to teach joyous moments in Black history too. So students won’t see slavery and Jim Crow as the totality of the black historical experience but can envision themselves of possibilities beyond subjugation.
Join us in person at a TED conference:
Become a TED Member to support our mission:
Subscribe to a TED newsletter:
Follow TED!
X:
Instagram:
Facebook:
LinkedIn:
TikTok:
The TED Talks channel features talks, performances and original series from the world’s leading thinkers and doers. Subscribe to our channel for videos on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more.
TED’s videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy: . For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at
#TED #TEDTalks #HowToBeABetterHuman
@KkKk-t2c7d
December 17, 2025 at 11:02 am
I want to learn English, but I don’t know how. I’ve tried many approaches and failed.
@jeremybly
December 17, 2025 at 11:29 am
Yeah, I can tell by your correct spelling and grammar. Smh
@KkKk-t2c7d
December 17, 2025 at 12:15 pm
@jeremybly Google Translate
@user-wp8yx
December 17, 2025 at 1:23 pm
Watch youtube videos with subtitles. Identify all the words and sentences. Speak what you hear until you understand.
@keraatkins7833
December 17, 2025 at 11:02 am
Best way to teach it is to keep teaching
@mmmorri
December 17, 2025 at 11:07 am
Next Indonesia’s corrupt
@Mypresident1986
December 17, 2025 at 11:14 am
If history doesn’t make or lead to a better me or better future, what is it for ?
@jeremybly
December 17, 2025 at 11:30 am
It’s to learn from
@Mypresident1986
December 17, 2025 at 11:34 am
@jeremyblyand trust of all the history mankind has gone through, little do we learn from history.
@mrfalleo
December 17, 2025 at 11:20 am
History is half the picture, a snippet and they define the world and how you are here now.
@peopleofthatkind
December 17, 2025 at 11:46 am
trouble is what we think history is and what he thinks history is is 2 complete diff things. we know our history 99 percent of the world then theres this lot. go figure.
@aethellstan
December 17, 2025 at 11:56 am
tell your truth? there is only one truth, it’s not yours it simply is.
@johnandjodyvleeming
December 17, 2025 at 12:13 pm
This is exactly the problem in today’s world. Everyone has a different truth so what is truth. The truth is what happened pure and simple, your reaction and/or experience may differ but truth is truth.
@chrishastings7583
December 17, 2025 at 4:08 pm
@johnandjodyvleemingwell said
@chrishastings7583
December 17, 2025 at 4:19 pm
Logical yet ignorant
@DevinDuccats
December 17, 2025 at 4:31 pm
Your truth versus my truth is the difference between teaching that the civil war started bc of slavery or teaching that it started bc of differences in economic theory. Both are true. One is real.
@aethellstan
December 18, 2025 at 12:41 am
@chrishastings7583 how is it ignorant if what i have said is true?
if you want to talk about black history talk about it all, not just snippets which fit a certain narrative.
@stephaniesewell8830
December 17, 2025 at 12:19 pm
Powerful and enlightening!
@luyzqint3760
December 17, 2025 at 12:39 pm
To talk truthfully, then we need to use facts:
Black?, Get yourself a color chart and trust your eyes.
The concept of race is BS, it was created to divide and discriminate (do your search on who came out with it and how). Just analyze the different labels for race:
Black and White are definitions of colors, not race*.
Hispanic/Latino, are references to language, not race*.
Asian and African, are Continental identities, not race* (check all the countries in the Asian and African Continents).
Then, in the US a white* person refer to others as, people of color (like white is not a color, or they are invisible?. And thanks to indoctrination, the minorities call themselves, people of color 🤣.
If you pay attention, you can see that we all are the same color, just different shades/tones (get yourself a color chart and trust your eyes).
There is no scientific evidence to the concept of race*, it is a tool used to make themselves feel special and others not so much. You can see that in many countries that try to look white to be treated differently.
Trust your eyes!. Stop the propaganda.
@Lilith_Dreamer
December 17, 2025 at 2:32 pm
hey there! i’m an anthropology student and wanted to chime in on your comment 🙂 in the field of anthropology we learn that yes, race was created by humans as a tool to divide, discriminate, and maintain power. But! We also learn that there is no real way to undo this due to the social factors and history surrounding race as a concept (such as slavery, scientific racism, apartheid, the list goes on) in addition to race being institutionalized in the United States and other countries.
So yes, we know race is not a legitimate indication of genetic/biological difference. But unfortunately it’s too late to put the genie back in the bottle so to speak because of how pervasive the idea is that we’re fundamentally different. Every version of the U.S. census has added new racial categories, we are long past the point of trying to live in a post-race society, especially in the worlds current political climate. It is not any minorities fault that they have been historically put in positions where they’ve been taken advantage of and made to suffer due to the ideology of white supremacy and still do in many scenarios. Race is not a tool made and used by minorities to gain special treatment but one that was created to be used against them and to mark white people as being superior to everyone else. I do agree that humans are all fundamentally the same, but it’s important to look at the social treatment of minorities and the history of race to understand why it’s a system that hurts everyone and ultimately still benefits the people we deem as “white”.
@luyzqint3760
December 18, 2025 at 12:16 am
@Lilith_Dreamer The concept of race* in the US is not the same around the world. It has become more popular thanks to Hollywood, the US propaganda tool.
@Lilith_Dreamer
December 18, 2025 at 1:04 pm
@@luyzqint3760 l understand where you’re coming from, but minorities are 100% not the ones in charge of running hollywood. race is definitely viewed differently outside of the U.S., but a lot of the world outside of the states has been affected by white supremacy and racism. one of the problems is that the U.S. specifically has institutionalized race through systemic avenues of oppression and the country is largely built on the idea of white supremacy, which is having a modern renaissance as we speak. race may not be real in the biological/genealogical way that we are taught to believe it is, but we have to acknowledge how it’s been used as a tool to hurt people. acknowledging the suffering of other people isn’t propaganda, it’s what makes us humans.
@DefDifferently
December 17, 2025 at 12:53 pm
Well said brotha ❤stand strong and teach ❤
@meanderinoranges
December 17, 2025 at 1:04 pm
Just another black racist using “honesty” and “truth” not to call his brethren to clean up their act, but to blame the rest of us for their woes.
@dougd1115
December 17, 2025 at 6:42 pm
Yeah, stay away from PragerU!!!
@Peggyd2
December 17, 2025 at 10:25 pm
How about telling THE truth of how it was fellow Africans that provided Africans to be enslaved? I can’t hear any discussion that doesn’t include this step in the supply chain and of the abolishonists who fought to end slavery for years before the Civil War.
@connieabeln7497
December 18, 2025 at 1:37 am
Every area of the world has its own history, and all peoples of the world have their own histories. Most of this information is wholly lost to us and no longer remembered.
As a genealogist, I know that most people do not know their own ancestors’ histories. A lot of this information is available and can be put together and understood.
It’s very powerful and useful to understand your own ancestors’ histories. And it’s very powerful and useful to understand their histories in the context in which they lived–which includes other people’s histories.
@BigMike10960
December 18, 2025 at 3:50 pm
New Orleans was not the epicenter of the slave trade. Africa was. Africans captured and sold their own people into slavery.
@Bythirteen
December 18, 2025 at 7:39 pm
wow, excellent speaker, he’s so well spoken