The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington

Short story by P. Djèlí Clark

"The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" is a fantasy short story by P. Djèlí Clark, about George Washington's teeth. It was first published in Fireside Fiction in 2018.

Synopsis

Rather than being a single narrative, the story examines the lives of the nine enslaved people whose teeth were taken to produce dentures for George Washington — in a world where magic and sorcery are real.

Reception

"The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story of 2018^[1] and the 2019 Locus Award for Best Short Story,^[2] and was a finalist for both the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Short Story^[3] and the 2019 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award.^[4]

Locus noted that the story "defeats (the) idea that there might be 'one true' slave narrative, that slaves would have all been this way or that way", and observed that the story is "deeply inform(ed)" by Clark's training as a historian.^[5]

References

^ "2018 Nebula Awards". The Nebula Awards. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
^ locusmag (2019-06-29). "2019 Locus Awards Winners". Locus Online. Retrieved 2019-07-04.
^ 2019 Hugo Award & 1944 Retro Hugo Award Finalists, at TheHugoAwards.org; published April 2, 2019; retrieved April 2, 2019
^ Sturgeon Award Finalists Announced, at Locus; published March 5, 2019; retrieved April 2, 2019
^ Karen Burnham Reviews Short Fiction: Fireside Fiction, by Karen Burnham, in Locus; published April 23, 2018; retrieved April 2, 2019

External links

Text of the story, at Fireside Fiction
On Slavery, Magic, and the Negro Teeth of George Washington, essay by Clark on the writing of the story

Locus Award for Best Short Story

1971–1980

"The Region Between" by Harlan Ellison (1971)
"The Queen of Air and Darkness" by Poul Anderson (1972)
"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1973)
"The Deathbird" by Harlan Ellison (1974)
"The Day Before the Revolution" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1975)
"Croatoan" by Harlan Ellison (1976)
"Tricentennial" by Joe Haldeman (1977)
"Jeffty Is Five" by Harlan Ellison (1978)
"Count the Clock that Tells the Time" by Harlan Ellison (1979)
"The Way of Cross and Dragon" by George R. R. Martin (1980)

1981–2000

"Grotto of the Dancing Deer" by Clifford D. Simak (1981)
"The Pusher" by John Varley (1982)
"Sur" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1983)
"Beyond the Dead Reef" by James Tiptree Jr. (1984)
"Salvador" by Lucius Shepard (1985)
"With Virgil Oddum at the East Pole" by Harlan Ellison (1986)
"Robot Dreams" by Isaac Asimov (1987)
"Angel" by Pat Cadigan (1988)
"Eidolons" by Harlan Ellison (1989)
"Lost Boys" by Orson Scott Card (1990)
"Bears Discover Fire" by Terry Bisson (1991)
"Buffalo" by John Kessel (1992)
"Even the Queen" by Connie Willis (1993)
"Close Encounter" by Connie Willis (1994)
"None So Blind" by Joe Haldeman (1995)
"The Lincoln Train" by Maureen F. McHugh (1996)
"Gone" by John Crowley (1997)
"Itsy Bitsy Spider" by James Patrick Kelly (1998)
"Maneki Neko" by Bruce Sterling (1999)
"macs" by Terry Bisson (2000)

2001–present

"The Missing Mass" by Larry Niven (2001)
"The Bones of the Earth" by Ursula K. Le Guin (2002)
"October in the Chair" by Neil Gaiman (2003)
"Closing Time" by Neil Gaiman (2004)
"Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Nameless House of the Night of Dread Desire" by Neil Gaiman (2005)
"Sunbird" by Neil Gaiman (2006)
"How to Talk to Girls at Parties" by Neil Gaiman (2007)
"A Small Room in Koboldtown" by Michael Swanwick (2008)
"Exhalation" by Ted Chiang (2009)
"An Invocation of Incuriosity" by Neil Gaiman (2010)
"The Thing About Cassandra" by Neil Gaiman (2011)
"The Case of Death and Honey" by Neil Gaiman (2012)
"Immersion" by Aliette de Bodard (2013)
"The Road of Needles" by Caitlín R. Kiernan (2014)
"The Truth About Owls" by Amal El-Mohtar (2015)
"Cat Pictures Please" by Naomi Kritzer (2016)
"Seasons of Glass and Iron" by Amal El-Mohtar (2017)
"The Martian Obelisk" by Linda Nagata (2018)
"The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" by P. Djèlí Clark (2019)
"The Bookstore at the End of America" by Charlie Jane Anders (2020)
"Little Free Library" by Naomi Kritzer (2021)
"Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather" by Sarah Pinsker (2022)
"Rabbit Test" by Samantha Mills (2023)

Best Novel (1971–1981)
Best SF Novel (1980–present)
Best Fantasy Novel (1978–present)
Best First Novel (1981–present)
Best Horror Novel (1989–1997, 1999, 2017–present)
Best Young Adult Book (2003–present)
Best Novella (1973–present)
Best Novelette (1975–present)
Best Short Story (1971–present)

v t e Nebula Award for Best Short Story
1966–1980	""Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman" by Harlan Ellison (1966) "The Secret Place" by Richard McKenna (1967) "Aye, and Gomorrah" by Samuel R. Delany (1968) "The Planners" by Kate Wilhelm (1969) "Passengers" by Robert Silverberg (1970) "Good News from the Vatican" by Robert Silverberg (1972) "When It Changed" by Joanna Russ (1973) "Love Is the Plan the Plan Is Death" by James Tiptree Jr. (1974) "The Day Before the Revolution" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1975) "Catch That Zeppelin!" by Fritz Leiber (1976) "A Crowd of Shadows" by Charles L. Grant (1977) "Jeffty Is Five" by Harlan Ellison (1978) "Stone" by Edward Bryant (1979) "giANTS" by Edward Bryant (1980)
1981–2000	"Grotto of the Dancing Deer" by Clifford D. Simak (1981) "The Bone Flute" by Lisa Tuttle (refused, 1982) "A Letter from the Clearys" by Connie Willis (1983) "The Peacemaker" by Gardner Dozois (1984) "Morning Child" by Gardner Dozois (1985) "Out of All Them Bright Stars" by Nancy Kress (1986) "Tangents" by Greg Bear (1987) "Forever Yours, Anna" by Kate Wilhelm (1988) "Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge" by James K. Morrow (1989) "Ripples in the Dirac Sea" by Geoffrey A. Landis (1990) "Bears Discover Fire" by Terry Bisson (1991) "Ma Qui" by Alan Brennert (1992) "Even the Queen" by Connie Willis (1993) "Graves" by Joe Haldeman (1994) "A Defense of the Social Contracts" by Martha Soukup (1995) "Death and the Librarian" by Esther Friesner (1996) "A Birthday" by Esther Friesner (1997) "Sister Emily's Lightship" by Jane Yolen (1998) "Thirteen Ways to Water" by Bruce Holland Rogers (1999) "The Cost of Doing Business" by Leslie What (2000)
2001–2020	"macs" by Terry Bisson (2001) "The Cure for Everything" by Severna Park (2002) "Creature" by Carol Emshwiller (2003) "What I Didn't See" by Karen Joy Fowler (2004) "Coming to Terms" by Eileen Gunn (2005) "I Live With You" by Carol Emshwiller (2006) "Echo" by Elizabeth Hand (2007) "Always" by Karen Joy Fowler (2008) "Trophy Wives" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman (2009) "Spar" by Kij Johnson (2010) "How Interesting: A Tiny Man" by Harlan Ellison / "Ponies" by Kij Johnson (2011) "The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu (2012) "Immersion" by Aliette de Bodard (2013) "If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love" by Rachel Swirsky (2014) "Jackalope Wives" by Ursula Vernon (2015) "Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers" by Alyssa Wong (2016) "Seasons of Glass and Iron" by Amal El-Mohtar (2017) "Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™" by Rebecca Roanhorse (2018) "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" by P. Djèlí Clark (2019) "Give the Family My Love" by A. T. Greenblatt (2020)
2021–present	"Open House on Haunted Hill" by John Wiswell (2021) "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather" by Sarah Pinsker (2022) "Rabbit Test" by Samantha Mills (2023)