Inheritance: An Autobiography of Whiteness

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. But when a white guy from his hometown of Columbia, S.C.--also the birthplace of secession-- massacred nine Black people in Charleston in the name of Southern whiteness, Woods began to delve into his family's history--and the ways that history has affected his own life. Upon discovering that his family--both the Baynards and the Woodses--collectively claimed ownership of more than 700 people in 1860 and that his great-grandfather had assassinated a Black politician in 1871, Woods realized his own name was a confederate monument. With assiduous research and brutal self-analysis, Woods uncovers the details of his family's crimes and all of the mundane ways he inherited them...and their coverup. Along with his name, he had inherited privilege, wealth, and all the lies that his ancestors passed down through the generations. At a time where Southern states are embracing a return to authoritarian, anti-democratic principles, Woods' analysis of how we inherited our whiteness from the twisted psychology of Southern slavers is both trenchant and urgent--but always cast against the foibles and failures of his own life. Unflinching and uninhibited, Inheritance is a no-holds-barred memoir that exposes the story from Trump country that you haven't heard while excavating what it means to reckon with whiteness in America today and what it might mean to begin to repair the past.

About the Author :
Baynard Woods is an award-winning writer and journalist based in Baltimore. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Oxford American Magazine, and many other publications. He is coauthor, with Brandon Soderberg, of I Got a Monster: The Rise and Fall of America's Most Corrupt Police Squad.

Review :
"Inheritance is an honest, powerful account of a white person actually examining how whiteness works in their own life. We need more of this." --DeRay Mckesson, activist and author of On the Other Side of Freedom "[INHERITANCE is] a guide to better understand the white privilege that many may not realize is embedded in their pasts."--Statehouse Report "[Told] with an unsparing eye and engaging style. . .Inheritance is an intimate, revelatory study in accountability and repair; I was rocked by this book's candor and the force of its home truths."--Michelle Orange, author of Pure Flame "A brilliant examination of white identity--searching, searing, ruthlessly honest, painful to read, yet impossible to put down. This is an essential book."--Wil S. Hylton, author of Vanished "Brilliant...Inheritance delivers the kind of first-person account needed to fully understand whiteness. Woods seamlessly travels from generation to generation to explore his family history. This book is the perfect tool for explaining the other side of critical race theory. Both Black and white America will benefit from the narrative carefully woven by Woods. Both Black and white America will benefit from the narrative carefully woven by Woods. This will be one of the most important books of the year, I highly recommend it."--D. Watkins, New York Times bestselling author of The Beast Side, The Cook Up, and We Speak for Ourselves "In this work of furious honesty, Mr. Woods has truly set a new standard for the bravery and humility that is required to understand what whiteness is, and how we might make a better world without it." --Martin Desmond Roe, Oscar-winning director of Two Distant Strangers "Unexpected, thrilling, and achingly, heartbreakingly beautiful, this is a book about the absolute moral imperative for every person--specifically every white person--to take responsibility for not only what we do, but for who we are." --Michael Patrick F. Smith, author of The Good Hand A journalist reckons with the free passes and blinkers his White privilege has bestowed on him. . . This book is an effort to uncover what benefits he reaped from this unthinking, and he's as honest as he can be on the matter without lapsing into self-pity or false proclamations of allyship. . . rooted in fine storytelling. . . Bracing, candid, and rueful.--Kirkus