Freedom Lost, Freedom Won

A Personal History of America

By: Eugene Robinson

Narrated by: Eugene Robinson

Pulitzer Prize–winning former Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson tells our nation’s torturous racial history through his own family’s story, starting with his great-grandfather’s freedom from slavery and threading his way to his own narrative and reaching today’s Black Lives Matter movement, asking whether this time will be different.

On March 27, 1829, a wealthy white planter and entrepreneur named Richard Fordham purchased four enslaved African Americans from a woman named Isabella Perman. One of them was journalist Eugene Robinson’s great-great-grandfather, a boy called Harry.

Starting from this transaction, which took place in Charleston, South Carolina, Freedom Lost, Freedom Won brings to life 200 years of our nation’s history through the eyes of the remarkable family that Harry founded. Assigned a formal name—Henry Fordham—and put to work as a blacksmith, he achieved his own freedom a decade before the Civil War. He was there when victorious Union troops marched into Charleston in 1865, ending slavery and guaranteeing liberty for Black people—only on paper, though, and only for a time.

Robinson traces the arc of his familial lineage through the repeated cycles in which African Americans have fought their way upward toward freedom and opportunity, been forced back down again, and renewed their determined climb.

From his great-great-grandfather’s achievement in becoming a “free person of color” before emancipation to his great-grandfather’s Reconstruction-era success, from his father’s odyssey of the Great Migration to his own coming-of-age during the civil rights movement, Robinson delves into a rich archive of Black narratives, arguing that we still have a long way to go before it is possible to speak of a “post-racial America.”

Setting his extensive research within the larger historical context, Robinson provides both an indictment of structural racism and an illustration of how it has been fought and, at times, courageously overcome. Freedom Lost, Freedom Won tells our country’s tortuous racial history through Robinson’s family’s story of struggle and survival, pushing us to consider how far the nation has come—willingly or not—and how far it still has to go.

Great book!

This was an interesting way to example African American history through the story of family. I found it informative and inspiring.

The History

Eugene Robinson is an amazing writer
Thanks for the memories
I will recommend this book to everyone

The fantastic way the story was told

I like the story from opening to ending.
Listening to a expert storyteller with absolute knowledge of the subject matter as an ultimate experience.

Important American Memoir

Lyrical writing, relatable story, profound insights through a journey of a single family over 200 years.

Perfect read to learn about African-American history

Eugene Robinson has an incredible family history. He speaks of his success without bragging. He helped me understand the struggle of African-Americans that continues today. I have a greater understanding of African-American history after reading this book. It was the perfect read for Black History Month.