Reviews
“Drawing on her acute sensitivity to language and bias, sharing long discussions with her cousins, and meshing their family history with the brutal realities of Banneker's time, Webster has created an engrossing, multifaceted, profoundly thoughtful, and beautifully rendered inquiry that forms a clarifying lens on America’s ongoing struggles against racism and endemic injustice.”
– Booklist, Starred Review
"Webster’s years of researching, imagining, and feeling her way into the histories of her ancestors and their descendants have culminated in her sweeping, frequently insightful, often speculative and sometimes extremely moving Benjamin Banneker and Us: Eleven Generations of an American Family.”
–Washington Post
“Poet Webster offers a stunning meditation on race, identity, and achievement. It’s an enthralling and clear-eyed celebration of America’s multiracial past and present.”
―Publisher’s Weekly, Starred Review
"The conversations between Webster and her cousins are among the more compelling parts of the book, providing a platform for the cousins to share the implications of their ancestry as Black people."
–NPR