NPR’s Book of the Day

Episode Summary: Alexis Okeowo’s ‘Blessings and Disasters’ is an Ode to Alabama’s Complicated History

Date: August 19, 2025
Host: Andrew Limbong / Emily Kwong
Guest: Alexis Okeowo

Episode Overview

This episode features journalist and author Alexis Okeowo discussing her new book, Blessings and Disasters: A Story of Alabama, with NPR’s Emily Kwong. Okeowo, a New Yorker staff writer and daughter of Nigerian immigrants, reflects on the beauty, complexity, and resilience of her home state, Alabama. Drawing on her own story and the lives of others often left out of the official narrative, Okeowo challenges stereotypes about Alabama and offers a nuanced exploration of its people and history.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Okeowo’s Motivation for Writing the Book

• Alexis Okeowo shares how leaving Alabama for college in the Northeast revealed how outsiders’ perceptions often reduce the state to stereotypes or its worst historical moments.
  • Quote: “Alabama is often defined by its worst events, its worst characteristics, its history. And I wanted to tell an alternate history of the state. I wanted to talk about the things that are left out of the state story and the experiences of people who decide to stay there despite so many people writing Alabama off.” — Alexis Okeowo [02:01]
• The book is meant as both memoir and reported stories, featuring those who have shaped Alabama but are rarely included in its mainstream narrative.

The Power of Perspective in Telling Alabama’s Story

• Okeowo intentionally crafts a multifaceted depiction of Alabama, examining whose perspectives are included in state history.
  • Quote: “The first sentence of the book is... ‘It depends on who is doing the looking.’ And as the book goes along, we look at Alabama through different eyes.” — Emily Kwong [03:03]
• She weaves her personal experience with stories from Black, white, Native American, Latino, and immigrant communities.
  • Quote: “The Native Americans who managed to stay, the black people who decided to stay, the white Alabamians, the Latino migrants who have been coming, immigrants like my parents from Nigeria... These are the people that are shaping Alabama.” — Alexis Okeowo [03:24]

Spotlight on the Poarch Creek Indians

• Emily highlights Okeowo’s compelling chapter on the Poarch Creek Indians, a tribe whose ancestors evaded the Trail of Tears and maintained ties to their land.
  • Quote: “The Poarch Creek... survivors of the worst events that can befall a people, from displacement to near eradication... for over a century, the federal government had treated them alternatively, like an extra finger or a phantom limb.” — Emily Kwong [04:22]
• Okeowo notes their place was not part of the Alabama story she learned growing up, revealing gaps in state-centric narratives.
  • Quote: “Their experience was not something that was included in the story of Alabama that I was taught growing up… And yet here is a small group of people that… managed to avoid getting onto the Trail of Tears, have become incredibly prosperous, and consider themselves deeply Alabamian and Native American.” — Alexis Okeowo [04:54], [05:06]

Okeowo’s Nigerian Heritage and Alabama’s Black Immigrant Community

• The host and guest discuss a “hidden layer” of Alabama’s demographic makeup: Black immigrant communities from Africa, like Okeowo’s family.
  • Quote: “People are still always shocked when I tell them, yeah, my parents have a whole West African community. The mini... I'm calling it sort of an Africa town in a way, because that hearkens to another Africa town in Alabama…” — Alexis Okeowo [06:06]
• Okeowo distinguishes the experience of West African immigrants as being “not Black American, but Black” and describes how they carved out their own space in Alabama.

Aunties, Family, and Representation

• Okeowo affectionately describes her “aunties” and their influence on her sense of style and representation, especially as she embarks on her book tour.
  • Quote: “Well, I'm already thinking about the outfit I will be wearing at my book event in Montgomery next week. I know it has to meet certain standards because all my aunties are coming.” — Alexis Okeowo [07:17]

Why Alabama Is Worth Loving and Returning To

• Okeowo reflects on the state’s natural beauty, warmth of its people, and the personal significance of being from Alabama.
  • Quote: “First of all, I think it's physically beautiful... the green is magnificent, and I'll always be drawn to that. I think it also produces some of the best people I've ever met in my life. I think the kind of warmth and honesty, generosity I find there is unlike any other I've found in this country.” — Alexis Okeowo [07:45]
  • “I think it taught me how to be around people I don't agree with, but who I can talk to. I think I can talk to almost anybody because I'm from Alabama.” — Alexis Okeowo [08:27]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Perspective:
  “It depends on who is doing the looking.” — Alexis Okeowo (first line of the book, as quoted by Emily Kwong) [03:03]

• On Alabama’s Diverse Voices:
  “A lot of those perspectives I found are not included in Alabama's official story or what people think Alabama's official story is.” — Alexis Okeowo [03:56]

• On Black Immigrant Experience:
  “They found themselves in a bit of an odd racial limbo... Not Black American, but Black.” — Alexis Okeowo [06:33]

• On the Influence of Aunties:
  “My mom is coming. What are you gonna wear?... This is a very big decision I have to make.” — [07:17–07:30]

• On Alabama’s Gifts:
  “There's a certain feeling in the air and walking around and being with people that is just really valuable and meaningful.” — Alexis Okeowo [08:09]

Important Timestamps

• [02:01] — Okeowo explains her motivation for the book, aiming for a more nuanced Alabama narrative.
• [03:03] — Discussion of the book’s opening line; importance of perspective.
• [04:08] — Examination of the Poarch Creek Indians and their absence in typical Alabama histories.
• [06:06] — Okeowo on Black immigrant community and her West African family roots in Alabama.
• [07:45] — Okeowo’s reflections on Alabama’s beauty and character.
• [08:27] — How Alabama shaped her ability to talk with people of differing viewpoints.

Tone & Style

The episode is warm, personal, and reflective. Okeowo speaks with pride, honesty, and affection for her home state, while Kwong brings thoughtful curiosity. The conversation is rich in detail and grounded in lived experience, giving a listener not only a sense of Alabama’s troubled past but also the vibrancy and humanity often overlooked in its story.

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