Michael Harriot

From beloved columnist Michael Harriot comes a comprehensive and bitingly hilarious appraisal of American history, in which the dominant narrative is directly confronted and corrected to showcase the perspectives and experiences of Black Americans. It should come as no surprise that the dominant narrative of American history is blighted with errors and oversights--after all, history books were written with the perspective of white men at the forefront. It could even be said that the historical devaluation and elimination of the experiences of Black people is as American as apple pie. Or rioting after football games. Or calling the cops on Black Americans for walking around their own neighborhoods, or listening to music, or bird-watching, or any other normal everyday activity. In Black AF History, Michael Harriot challenges this narrative, presenting more than thirty little-known stories about the experiences of Black Americans, from the Tulsa Race Massacre to the history of policing. With sharp, incisive wit, Harriot speaks hilarious truth to oppressive power, providing readers with a singular look at our shared history that is as comprehensive as it is utterly necessary.

The Un-Whitewashed Story of America

Black AF History

Lindsay

In most history books, America is colonized by European settlers. In chronicling this nation's past, historians recognize that the English, Dutch, Spanish, and French colonists are human beings with different back stories, cultures, and motivations. We know the political incentives, economic concerns, and social morays that explain way the theft, violence, and genocide they committed against the savage silhouettes that we are too unbothered to name. The people and the cultures whose blood water these stolen landscapes are usually dehumanized by simply remaining anonymous. The stolen Africans are not Akan or Nyamwezi, they're just slaves. The various indigenous nations who were extinguished are never Oceti, [Chicoan], or even Iroquois, they are just Indians or, at most, Native Americans. Yes somehow, the states and colonies that replaced them have borders, legislatures, and distinguishable features.

The only difference between a burglar and a settler is who writes the police reports.

On August 14, 1791, a tropical storm was bearing down on [Haiti] when a group of enslaved Africans met in the Bwa Kayiman, or Alligator Forest, to hold a secret ceremony. Historical accounts would later call this meeting a voodoo ceremony and refer to the attendees as slaves. Had these freedom-seeking Africans been White, we would call them founding fathers.

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