Summary

The Men We Reaped, by Jesmyn Ward, is a memoir about Ward’s life growing up as a Black female amongst poverty, violence, and substance abuse in Mississippi. While telling the story of her life, Ward also examines the lives of five Black men who died violent deaths at a young age, including her brother. Ward takes an honest look at the factors that affect her community and how they play into these early deaths while giving voice to the under-told story of the lives of Black people in the South.

In the Prologue, Ward and her siblings ride with their mother from their home in DeLisle, Mississippi to their father’s house in Shrewsbury, a Black neighborhood in New Orleans. Her brother, Joshua, tells Ward and her two sisters, Nerissa and Charine, that there is a ghost in the house. Ward doesn’t...