Alexis Okeowo’s ‘Blessings and Disasters’ is an ode to Alabama’s complicated history

Summary

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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

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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.

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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]

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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]

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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.

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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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Transcript

[Andrew Limbong]

Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. I guess I can't speak for other states, but in Maryland, where I live, people love showing their state pride through stuff. You know, crabs, beers, Old Bay, our chaotic looking flag, you know what I mean? But really, at the end of the day, many people love their home state because of other people. That's at least true of Alexis Okeowo, who is from Alabama. It is a state that is often both misunderstood and maligned. But she's got a new book out titled Blessings and Disasters, the Story of Alabama. It's part memoir, part reporting on the people that make up Alabama. And in this interview with Empire's Emily Kwong, Okeo talks about the importance of talking to people often left out of the story of Alabama. That's ahead.

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[Emily Kwong]

Yellowhammer, camellia, Southern longleaf pine. These are all symbols of Alabama, the home state of Alexis Akayawo, a staff writer at the New Yorker and daughter of Nigerian immigrants who wanted to write a book about what it means to love the place where she's from while still acknowledging its sins. That book is called Blessings and Disasters, A Story of Alabama. Alexis Akao joins me now. Hi, welcome to ALL Things considered.

[Alexis Okeowo]

Hi. Thank you for having me.

[Emily Kwong]

You know, relationship to your home state is a very personal thing. Can you tell us the story of what happen that made you want to write this?

[Alexis Okeowo]

Yeah. So Alabama to me has always been home. It's the place I've known best. It's where I spent my childhood. But it wasn't until I left for college in the Northeast that I realized how people outside of Alabama held such strong convictions and stereotypes about a place that they, in my opinion, didn't really know. 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.

[Emily Kwong]

Yeah, the approach you take to depicting a multifaceted view of Alabama is so brilliant. And you Write about how so much of Alabama is a battle over who gets to tell the story. And the first sentence of the book is. And I underlined this, and I was like, wow, this is such a good first sentence of a book. It depends on who is doing the looking. And as the book goes along, we look at Alabama through different eyes.

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We.

[Emily Kwong]

Why did you choose to do it this way and to weave your story in with these half a dozen others?

[Alexis Okeowo]

Yeah, because to me, Alabama and the south in general has always been most interesting because of the people who make it home. And I think those people and their visions of what Alabama could be is what has pushed the state forward, whether it's wanted to go or not. The Native Americans who managed to stay, the. The black people who decided to stay, the white Alabamians, the Latino migrants who have been coming and are still coming, immigrants like my parents from Nigeria. These are the people that are shaping Alabama and making it what it is. And a lot of those perspectives I found are not included in Alabama's official story or what people think Alabama's official story is.

[Emily Kwong]

Some of the most riveting passages to me in the book are about the Poarch Creek Indians, this community that is Southern and Indian, and this tribe, their ancestors managed to escape the Trail of Tears and hold onto their land in Alabama. You write the Poarch Creek, where kin and country, the survivors of the worst events that can befall a people from displacement to near eradication. And for over a century, the federal government had treated them alternatively, like an extra finger or a phantom limb. You didn't mingle, it seems, a ton, with the Poarch Creek tribe growing up. So how did writing about the first Alabamians change how you saw the state?

[Alexis Okeowo]

Their experience was not something that was included in the story of Alabama that I was taught growing up. Wow. And that, to me, isn't applicable at all.

[Emily Kwong]

At all.

[Alexis Okeowo]

And now I've seen mentions of their story more in historical markers downtown in Montgomery, but that's a more recent occurrence. And yet here is a small group of people that, as you said, managed to avoid getting onto the Trail of Tears, have become incredibly prosperous and consider themselves deeply Alabamian and Native American. And I was fascinated by their experience because they're still in a tricky situation where they still battle with the state of Alabama over their sovereignty and their businesses, but they're not going anywhere.

[Emily Kwong]

Growing up, I learned about Alabama primarily through the lens of relationships between black and white Albanians. But you complicate that picture in sharing your personal Story, your family is from Nigeria, and you talk about the black immigrant community in Alabama being a whole other layer. Can you paint us that picture?

[Alexis Okeowo]

Yes. I mean, 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 where the last enslaved people brought to Alabama illegally after the slave trade ended, made a home in Alabama after the Civil War. And I compare that experience a little bit to West African immigrants who came willingly for school and then found themselves in a bit of an odd racial limbo. Yeah. Not black American, but black. And how they made their way and made home in Alabama.

[Emily Kwong]

Yeah. I love how you write about your aunties and auntie style. These West African women, these black women who you grew up with being so kind of colorful in their style and expressive in their style. Have they weighed in on your press tour outfits, what you should be wearing to represent Alabama fashion as you share this book with the world?

[Alexis Okeowo]

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. My mom is coming.

[Emily Kwong]

What are you gonna wear?

[Alexis Okeowo]

Very good question. I haven't decided yet. This is a very big decision I have to make.

[Emily Kwong]

For those who have not read the book, what would you say about why Alabama is a great place to be from and a place worth returning to?

[Alexis Okeowo]

First of all, I think it's physically beautiful. It's a beautiful place. I think that it produces.

[Emily Kwong]

Yeah, the green land.

[Alexis Okeowo]

Ye. Yeah, the green. 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. And I think there's a certain feeling and in the air and walking around and being with people that is just really valuable and meaningful. And I think that also it really shaped me into who I am. 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.

[Emily Kwong]

Alexis Akayewo is the author of Blessings and A Story of Alabama, which is available now. Thank you so much for coming on All Things Considered to talk about your book.

[Alexis Okeowo]

Thank you.

[Andrew Limbong]

And just a reminder that signing up for Book of the Day plus is a great way to support NPR's book coverage and public media. And you'll get to listen to every episode sponsor free. So please go find out [e-mail] BookOfTheDay.

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[Alexis Okeowo]

Com.