Black AF History

"When comparing them side by side, the story of the American Revolution ain't got nothin' on the Haitian Revolution. For Black people, Haiti represents the most beautiful story of strength, resistance, and freedom that has ever been told. It is a story of a people who thrust off the chains of bondage and took their liberty from the hands of their oppressors."
Did you learn about the Haitian Revolution in school? I sure AF didn't and I'm pretty sure my kids didn't. I'm guessing you didn't even though you were probably required to sit through American history to get a high school diploma. Now you're probably wondering what the Haitian Revolution had to do with American history. As Michael Harriot explains in Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America, they're deeply interwoven. A few years before Haiti's Blacks won freedom from slavery and wide spread torture and murder America went from colonies to nation by pulling the biggest you are not the boss of me evah on England. But instead of welcoming the island nation to the brotherhood of self emancipated nations we reacted with fear and horror. We were enslaving, torturing, and murdering our own Blacks. We were terrified that they might follow the example set by the Haitians which would totally tank a economy based on free labor. We not only piled on more restrictive laws in our nation but joined with France in demanding that Haiti pay pay France restitution for all the self-liberated slaves, creating a poverty that exists today.
This is just one of the American history inconvenient truths Harriot reveals to readers—the stuff they probably did not teach you in your navigation of the K-12 system. Other chapters include explanations of topics such as separate but equal, the roots of the two party system, how striving for freedom became classified as a mental illness, reconstruction, a true conspiracy involving J. Edgar Hoover's gang, and the Civil Rights movement. The book is a for sure eye opener. If you think you know this nation's history you may be in for quite an awakening.
Black AF History is meticulously researched and has the end notes to prove it. But it is not deadly dull in the way of too many scholarly tomes. Harriot's voice is lively, direct, conversational, and sometimes darkly humorous. He manages to spell out truths that can be difficult to read in a way that entices readers to persist in engaging with them. He fits in candid segments from his own personal life. And you should read the chapters that constitute conversations with Racist Baby.
If you aren't in the crowd that considers the antebellum plantation South to be the pinnacle of America's greatness you really should put this fine book on your summer reading list…
…especially if you teach American history.
On a personal note, this is the book I wish had been around when I was in high school.
A GREAT BIG SHOUT OUT GOES OUT TO HARRIOT FOR SHARING THE UNWHITEWASHED TRUTH!!!
Jules Hathaway