“Beginning with the tragic loss of her son, Karla Holloway poignantly examines how race not only affects the meaning of black lives, but their deaths as well.”—Paula Giddings, author of When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America
“Punctuated with Holloway’s personal stories, the book is an elegantly written survey for general readers and cultural historians alike.”
~Publishers Weekly
"Karla Holloway writes about a central and little-explored American phenomenon with a wide and patient breadth of knowledge and a startlingly profound personal depth. It feels like a book as durable as a well-shaped stone—as reliable, useful and finally consoling, however hard to bear."—Reynolds Price
“This powerful, moving, and frequently upsetting book is welcome. It speaks to a deep sorrow in the African American zeitgeist. . . . Passed On ventures close to places many folks would rather not go. [Holloway’s] courage and empathy are apparent throughout this path-breaking book.”
~Tim Haslett, Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noire
"Holloway weaves a seamless and engaging narrative from interviews, historical sources and personal testimony, showing continuity in the black experience of death. . . . Her tales are by turns poignant, horrifying and amusing. . . ."
~Josie Appleton, TLS
"Passed On explores a century's worth of experience with black death and dying. . . My travels have traced the story this book tells. I have wandered through exhibits in a museum of the funeral industry . . .I have visited funeral directors and morticians . . . I have searched early-century graveyards and late-century cemeteries . . . I have consulted archives and manuscripts . . . I have talked with physicians, casket manufacturers, hospice administrators, makers of 'funeral' garments, palliative care teams, embalming-chemical businessmen, neighborhood ministers, and neighborhood residents.
"When I started working on this book . . . I had not imagined how this would be connected to me in such a visceral and personal way. . . that the narrative of Passed On, which invaded my serenity many years ago (well before my son's life took its tragic, final turn), would find its articulation in this manner. I do not tell his story for judgment or absolution. I tell it instead because it too has the characteristics of an 'incident report' that is, finally, community property."—From the Introduction
“Holloway writes a fascinating book. . . . By weaving interviews, historical accounts, and personal reflections, Holloway demonstrates how a combination of racial injustice, violence against blacks, and medical neglect has shaped black people’s expected transition between this world and the afterlife. . . . [It] may help physicians today understand why some African Americans do not fully trust our present medical system.”
~Brian C. Reed, JAMA
"Karla F.C. Holloway . . . brings all of her professional competencies to Passed On. This well-written history of African American funeral practice encompasses history, narrative, and social science. . . . One is grateful for the store of information provided by Holloway's scholarship, amazed at our resilience given the sometimes horrific history Holloway presents, and awed by the strength of soul that allowed her to conceive this work and bring it to term even as she mourned her own son. Passed On is a highly recommended read."
~Linda I. Kirkland-Harris, The African American Pulpit
“[An] engaging and, at times, heartbreaking, study of death in African American culture. . . . [Holloway] has managed to elucidate an aspect of African American culture that has far-reaching consequences. By framing her study on the one end with the story of her own adopted son’s death during an attempted prison break, and on the other with the funeral sermon delivered for her son, she demonstrates how cultural and academic criticism can, and should, have a personal effect, both for those who write it and for those who read it. It is a lesson she learned well from W.E.B. Du Bois.”
~Erik Bledsoe, Foreword Reviews
“By interweaving these conversations with visits to the gravesites of prominent black Americans and examples of death and grief as portrayed in literature, music, and the media, [Holloway] provides an in-depth analysis of the unique psychology of death prevalent in African American society. . . . [F]ascinating.”
~Margaret Flanagan, Booklist
“[A] stunning portrait of African American death in the 20th century that includes discussions of the business of funerals and wakes, the ways African Americans die (using a host of statistical analysis), and the place of the black church and funeral ceremonies in African American culture. One of the particularly startling points of Passed On, is Holloway’s inclusion of her son’s death in her prologue and his funeral sermon at the end. Passed On is a valuable book because it is able to articulate distinct social practices, and ultimately show how death pervades not only African American life, but identity.”
~Virginia Quarterly Review
