Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Eugene Robinson's book "Freedom Won, Freedom Lost" explores two centuries of U.S. history through his own lineage.
Robinson, an associate editor at The Washington Post, is an author and political analyst who has spent much of his career reporting on politics in both Latin America and the United States. He received the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and the election of the nation’s first Black president.
On "The Florida Roundup," Robinson reflected on his book and how American history is intertwined with his own family’s story.
He traces the history of African Americans in the United States and the barriers they faced due to discrimination and celebrates his family's achievements. The story allows readers to follow generations of Black Americans as they navigated some of the nation’s most transformative periods.
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One of the people featured in the book is Robinson’s great-great-grandfather, who was purchased into slavery in 1829 but later built a family and a life after becoming a free man. Through stories like his, Robinson examines both the hardships and achievements that shaped his family’s history.
Much of the material used in the book came from Robinson’s great-grandfather, John Hammond Fordham, who carefully preserved a large collection of personal documents that Robinson would later study while researching his family’s past.
“He saved his speeches, he saved his letters, he saved his financial documents, and all of these were in the house I grew up in," Robinson told host Tom Hudson. "I grew up surrounded by this history."
According to the author, Fordham was an educated man who became a lawyer, served as an elected coroner and lived through some of the most consequential periods in American history. He witnessed the end of slavery, the promises of Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow laws that would limit opportunities for Black Americans throughout the South.
“He saved his speeches, he saved his letters, he saved his financial documents, and all of these were in the house I grew up in. I grew up surrounded by this history."Eugene Robinson
Fordham also documented many of those changes in his speeches and writings. During the interview, Robinson read from one of his great-grandfather’s speeches, which highlighted the economic and social progress Black Americans had made in the decades following emancipation.
“Somehow or other we have slowly and steadily marched forward up the difficult hill of success, and it gives me pleasure to unfurl our banner in the breeze today, on which is inscribed the following: 40 years ago the Negro of the South did not own a square foot of ground, nor a roof to cover them [...] 12 negro banks, three magazines, 450 newspapers, 800 physicians in practice, 300 lawyers, 30,000 school teachers, 300,000 books in the home, so starting from nothing. Here is an accumulation of a billion dollars,” Robinson read from the opening paragraph of his great-grandfather’s speech.
For Robinson, the speech represented more than a list of accomplishments. He said it was, in many ways, a plea for Black Americans to be allowed to continue building their lives and communities without interference, a message that could be summarized in a simple phrase: “Leave us alone.”
As he researched his family history, Robinson said he repeatedly encountered ancestors who were talented, ambitious and deeply committed to their communities and country.
Yet generation after generation, he also found examples of opportunities being restricted by discriminatory laws and social conditions that placed limits on what Black Americans could achieve.
“History is not about making people feel uncomfortable or sad or guilty. It’s simply about telling the truth of how this nation came to be."Eugene Robinson
Robinson also spoke briefly about some more recent debates over history and education. The journalist criticized Florida’s 2022 “Stop WOKE Act”, describing the legislation as “absurd.” The law prohibited instruction that “promotes, advances or compels individuals to believe discriminatory concepts such as Critical Race Theory.”
For Robinson, understanding the nation’s history requires confronting both its accomplishments and its failures.
“History is not about making people feel uncomfortable or sad or guilty. It’s simply about telling the truth of how this nation came to be,” Robinson said.
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Reflecting on both his family’s story and the broader struggle for civil rights, Robinson said one of the lessons he learned while researching and writing the book was how often progress has been met with resistance.
“One of the things I discovered doing this research and writing this book is just the many times when we made progress down this road,” Robinson said. “We go three steps forward, and then get pushed two steps back.”
This story was compiled from interviews conducted by Tom Hudson for "The Florida Roundup." Click here to listen to the full conversation.
