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Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best History & Biography (2023) From acclaimed columnist and political commentator Michael Harriot, a searingly smart and bitingly hilarious retelling of American history that corrects the record and showcases the perspectives and experiences of Black Americans.
America’s backstory is a whitewashed mythology implanted in our collective memory. It is the story of the pilgrims on the Mayflower building a new nation. It is George Washington’s cherry tree and Abraham Lincoln’s log cabin. It is the fantastic tale of slaves that spontaneously teleported themselves here with nothing but strong backs and negro spirituals. It is a sugarcoated legend based on an almost true story.
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 by white men with their perspectives at the forefront. It could even be said that the devaluation and erasure of the Black experience is as American as apple pie.
In Black AF History, Michael Harriot presents a more accurate version of American history. Combining unapologetically provocative storytelling with meticulous research based on primary sources as well as the work of pioneering Black historians, scholars, and journalists, Harriot removes the white sugarcoating from the American story, placing Black people squarely at the center. With incisive wit, Harriot speaks hilarious truth to oppressive power, subverting conventional historical narratives with little-known stories about the experiences of Black Americans. From the African Americans who arrived before 1619 to the unenslavable bandit who inspired America’s first police force, this long overdue corrective provides a revealing look into our past that is as urgent as it is necessary. For too long, we have refused to acknowledge that American history is white history. Not this one. This history is Black AF.
America’s backstory is a whitewashed mythology implanted in our collective memory. It is the story of the pilgrims on the Mayflower building a new nation. It is George Washington’s cherry tree and Abraham Lincoln’s log cabin. It is the fantastic tale of slaves that spontaneously teleported themselves here with nothing but strong backs and negro spirituals. It is a sugarcoated legend based on an almost true story.
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 by white men with their perspectives at the forefront. It could even be said that the devaluation and erasure of the Black experience is as American as apple pie.
In Black AF History, Michael Harriot presents a more accurate version of American history. Combining unapologetically provocative storytelling with meticulous research based on primary sources as well as the work of pioneering Black historians, scholars, and journalists, Harriot removes the white sugarcoating from the American story, placing Black people squarely at the center. With incisive wit, Harriot speaks hilarious truth to oppressive power, subverting conventional historical narratives with little-known stories about the experiences of Black Americans. From the African Americans who arrived before 1619 to the unenslavable bandit who inspired America’s first police force, this long overdue corrective provides a revealing look into our past that is as urgent as it is necessary. For too long, we have refused to acknowledge that American history is white history. Not this one. This history is Black AF.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published September 19, 2023
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October 25, 2023
The United Statian holiday of Thanksgiving is coming up so I will use this space to explain to the rest of the world about Thanksgiving.
Way back in the day, a bunch of white people who weren't yet calling themselves white people came to this land that wasn't yet the United States of America (though some think it has always been the USA and it's where the Garden of Eden was located).
These squatters neglected to think ahead and plant food during the summer. Then, a long, harsh winter set in and they suddenly realized there wasn't yet a Dollar General or Walmart in sight.
There were, however, all the people who had lived on this land for thousands of years, some of whom felt sorry for these odd people whose skin looked like sugar cookies.
When he heard they'd resorted to cannibalism, Chief Wahunsenacah (whom the white people called Powhatan because his name was too long or they couldn't pronounce it or something) sent food to get them through the winter.
You'd think they'd have been grateful and, I don't know, maybe not forced the original tenants off their land or not massacred them. But no, if they felt any gratitude at all, they expressed it in very strange ways.
Because of this, we have the Thanksgiving holiday so we can pretend that everything was hunky-dory and these brave and good women and men who came to this land befriended the "Indians" (that's another story about how they thought they were in India. No wonder we United Statians have such terrible geography skills; we inherited it).
Our children learn in school that the natives were so happy to have white neighbors that they did all they could to make them feel welcome and help their colony succeed. After all, it increased the property value to have whites in the neighborhood.
Some people (meaning a lot of white people) believe this fairy tale and that's why we continue to celebrate Thanksgiving. We pretend we didn't steal this land or that Europeans didn't kill off 95% of the indigenous people of the Americas through infectious disease and warfare.
We celebrate Thanksgiving to belatedly express gratitude to Indigenous Americans after they saved our asses and we slaughtered them.
That's far from the only fairy tale and myth we've created about our country in order for white people to feel good about ourselves rather than admit to the atrocities our ancestors reigned down upon people of color. Not just during that first year, but every year since. We have whitewashed history and patted ourselves on the back.
As the author of this book says, "It isn’t simply a counterfeit version of history, it is a fable that erases the reflection of an entire people to ensure that the mythology of the heroes lives happily ever after."
In Black AF History Michael Harriot gives us a real history lesson, beginning with those first people at Jamestown, who had to resort to cannibalism until Chief Wahunsenacah helped them out.
I usually find history boring. This book is anything but boring! Michael Harriot is funny even though a lot of this is anything but funny. He keeps it real and he entertains and he makes sure we know the truth about our country, how we built it and all its wealth from stolen land and stolen people.
He doesn't just give us the low-down on the colonizers and slaveholders. He also writes about Black heroes, men and women who did remarkable things in spite of what they were born into.
I especially loved the chapter "So Devilish a Fire" which is about the Black women who started the Civil Rights Movement: Ida B. Wells*, Mary Church Terrell, Amelia Boynton, Aurelia Browder, and more. These women, some of whom I'd never heard of, were so kick-ass and awesome and should be heroes to us all. (*"Ida B. Wells had one gift, it was that she was born with what scientists have now identified as the genetic marker IDGAF."
And then there was the woman who brought about rock 'n roll - Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Wow!!
I also loved the Unit Reviews at the end of each chapter - they made me laugh every time. They consist of three multiple choice questions and usually an activity. Very tongue-in-cheek.
A lot of the things in this book I've read in other books, like Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America and How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America but there was also a lot of new material for me in it.
It is very much worth reading, especially if you, like me, are tired of history being whitewashed and want to see things how they really were. It's time we grow up and stop believing in fairy tales.
It's not about hating America or white people. It's about being honest.
Way back in the day, a bunch of white people who weren't yet calling themselves white people came to this land that wasn't yet the United States of America (though some think it has always been the USA and it's where the Garden of Eden was located).
These squatters neglected to think ahead and plant food during the summer. Then, a long, harsh winter set in and they suddenly realized there wasn't yet a Dollar General or Walmart in sight.
There were, however, all the people who had lived on this land for thousands of years, some of whom felt sorry for these odd people whose skin looked like sugar cookies.
When he heard they'd resorted to cannibalism, Chief Wahunsenacah (whom the white people called Powhatan because his name was too long or they couldn't pronounce it or something) sent food to get them through the winter.
You'd think they'd have been grateful and, I don't know, maybe not forced the original tenants off their land or not massacred them. But no, if they felt any gratitude at all, they expressed it in very strange ways.
Because of this, we have the Thanksgiving holiday so we can pretend that everything was hunky-dory and these brave and good women and men who came to this land befriended the "Indians" (that's another story about how they thought they were in India. No wonder we United Statians have such terrible geography skills; we inherited it).
Our children learn in school that the natives were so happy to have white neighbors that they did all they could to make them feel welcome and help their colony succeed. After all, it increased the property value to have whites in the neighborhood.
Some people (meaning a lot of white people) believe this fairy tale and that's why we continue to celebrate Thanksgiving. We pretend we didn't steal this land or that Europeans didn't kill off 95% of the indigenous people of the Americas through infectious disease and warfare.
We celebrate Thanksgiving to belatedly express gratitude to Indigenous Americans after they saved our asses and we slaughtered them.
That's far from the only fairy tale and myth we've created about our country in order for white people to feel good about ourselves rather than admit to the atrocities our ancestors reigned down upon people of color. Not just during that first year, but every year since. We have whitewashed history and patted ourselves on the back.
As the author of this book says, "It isn’t simply a counterfeit version of history, it is a fable that erases the reflection of an entire people to ensure that the mythology of the heroes lives happily ever after."
In Black AF History Michael Harriot gives us a real history lesson, beginning with those first people at Jamestown, who had to resort to cannibalism until Chief Wahunsenacah helped them out.
I usually find history boring. This book is anything but boring! Michael Harriot is funny even though a lot of this is anything but funny. He keeps it real and he entertains and he makes sure we know the truth about our country, how we built it and all its wealth from stolen land and stolen people.
He doesn't just give us the low-down on the colonizers and slaveholders. He also writes about Black heroes, men and women who did remarkable things in spite of what they were born into.
I especially loved the chapter "So Devilish a Fire" which is about the Black women who started the Civil Rights Movement: Ida B. Wells*, Mary Church Terrell, Amelia Boynton, Aurelia Browder, and more. These women, some of whom I'd never heard of, were so kick-ass and awesome and should be heroes to us all. (*"Ida B. Wells had one gift, it was that she was born with what scientists have now identified as the genetic marker IDGAF."
And then there was the woman who brought about rock 'n roll - Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Wow!!
I also loved the Unit Reviews at the end of each chapter - they made me laugh every time. They consist of three multiple choice questions and usually an activity. Very tongue-in-cheek.
A lot of the things in this book I've read in other books, like Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America and How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America but there was also a lot of new material for me in it.
It is very much worth reading, especially if you, like me, are tired of history being whitewashed and want to see things how they really were. It's time we grow up and stop believing in fairy tales.
It's not about hating America or white people. It's about being honest.
January 18, 2024
"You start out in 1954 by saying Nigger, Nigger, Nigger. By 1968 you can't say Nigger that hurts you backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states rights now you're getting abstract. Now you're talking about cutting taxes and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites. We want to cut this is so much more abstract than even busing and a hell of a lot more abstract than Nigger Nigger."
- Lee Atwater
Black AF History is the type of book that keeps racist white folks like those who wanna ban books up at night. This book is Ron Desantis' worse nightmare. Americans love being racist but they hate being called racist. I truly don't understand why. I love Beyonce but I don't get mad when people call me a Beyonce lover. America was built on racism. That isn't some woke conspiracy theory. It's just a fact. This country was founded on genocide. This country's Founding Father's were human traffickers. And our entire economy was built on the proceeds from genocide and human trafficking. These facts shouldn't hurt your feelings....if you don't support genocide and human trafficking...if they do hurt your feelings.....
The thing I enjoyed most about this book was the humor. I truly believe Black folks invented "Dark Humor" we can make any situation no matter how dark, funny. Michael Harriot mixes stories of rape, human trafficking and lynching with funny stories of his family in South Carolina ( or what my great great aunt called her home state Sous Corolina). Levity is definitely needed when telling the TRUE STORY of America. I haven't worked up the courage to read the 1619 Project or Medical Apartheid yet. As a Black person who deals with racism everyday I really need to space out my continued exploration of the racist origins of America.
Black AF History will have you raging, laughing and hating America but loving Black folks. This book isn't just about the South either, lots of people would have you believe that white supremacy is a southern thing but it's not. As Mr. Harriot so truthfully states, it's an American thing. New York and California are just as racist as Mississippi and Alabama. White people talk about "safe spaces" but Black people have no safe spaces.
A couple more facts:
1. Most churches and that includes the Catholic church participated in the transatlantic slave trade.
2. Black neighborhoods have fewer grocery stores than white communities.
3. Black women have the highest maternal death rate of any citizen of a First World Nation.
4. Black newborns are 3x more likely to die when they are cared for by a white doctor.
5. Black people pay higher water bills but have less clean water than their white counterparts
If any of these facts make you angry at the injustice...Good...They should.
If these facts make you angry because it makes white sound bad.....you might a racist.
I loved this book and I recommend as essential reading for all white people. Black folks we should also read it but take care. Other people of color you guys should also read it.
Books like this are revolutionary and important. Books like this scare the people in power...why else would they want to ban them. If you don't know the true history of America than the people in power can continue stripping people of their rights. I think with the overturning of Roe, alot of white women realized that rights stripping isn't just something that happens to people of color. What's that old saying first they came for the niggers and I didn't give a shit but now they're coming for me.....it's something like that.
Read this book while you're still allowed to.
- Lee Atwater
Black AF History is the type of book that keeps racist white folks like those who wanna ban books up at night. This book is Ron Desantis' worse nightmare. Americans love being racist but they hate being called racist. I truly don't understand why. I love Beyonce but I don't get mad when people call me a Beyonce lover. America was built on racism. That isn't some woke conspiracy theory. It's just a fact. This country was founded on genocide. This country's Founding Father's were human traffickers. And our entire economy was built on the proceeds from genocide and human trafficking. These facts shouldn't hurt your feelings....if you don't support genocide and human trafficking...if they do hurt your feelings.....
The thing I enjoyed most about this book was the humor. I truly believe Black folks invented "Dark Humor" we can make any situation no matter how dark, funny. Michael Harriot mixes stories of rape, human trafficking and lynching with funny stories of his family in South Carolina ( or what my great great aunt called her home state Sous Corolina). Levity is definitely needed when telling the TRUE STORY of America. I haven't worked up the courage to read the 1619 Project or Medical Apartheid yet. As a Black person who deals with racism everyday I really need to space out my continued exploration of the racist origins of America.
Black AF History will have you raging, laughing and hating America but loving Black folks. This book isn't just about the South either, lots of people would have you believe that white supremacy is a southern thing but it's not. As Mr. Harriot so truthfully states, it's an American thing. New York and California are just as racist as Mississippi and Alabama. White people talk about "safe spaces" but Black people have no safe spaces.
A couple more facts:
1. Most churches and that includes the Catholic church participated in the transatlantic slave trade.
2. Black neighborhoods have fewer grocery stores than white communities.
3. Black women have the highest maternal death rate of any citizen of a First World Nation.
4. Black newborns are 3x more likely to die when they are cared for by a white doctor.
5. Black people pay higher water bills but have less clean water than their white counterparts
If any of these facts make you angry at the injustice...Good...They should.
If these facts make you angry because it makes white sound bad.....you might a racist.
I loved this book and I recommend as essential reading for all white people. Black folks we should also read it but take care. Other people of color you guys should also read it.
Books like this are revolutionary and important. Books like this scare the people in power...why else would they want to ban them. If you don't know the true history of America than the people in power can continue stripping people of their rights. I think with the overturning of Roe, alot of white women realized that rights stripping isn't just something that happens to people of color. What's that old saying first they came for the niggers and I didn't give a shit but now they're coming for me.....it's something like that.
Read this book while you're still allowed to.
June 19, 2024
There's nothing funny about the history of the United States. Unless, Michael Harroit tells it.
I'm completely blown away by his (seemingly innate) ability to tell the hard truths with humor. My brain is a little bit bigger, too. I learned that slaves were not the first Africans to come to the "new world". Now, I know where "punch line" came from.
One of the things that hit the hardest was the simple fact that slave labor was, in no way, only manual labor. Yes, I should have realized it, but didn't. These resilient, strong, intelligent folks figured out how to farm some inhospitable land.
To me, this is a book filled with amazing people who made major contributions, largely untold. Until now.
Of course I added this to my favorite classroom libraries, but that just isn't nearly enough. I offered to purchase this book for any student interested in adding it to their personal bookshelves. I'm thrilled to say that demand is high.
I'm completely blown away by his (seemingly innate) ability to tell the hard truths with humor. My brain is a little bit bigger, too. I learned that slaves were not the first Africans to come to the "new world". Now, I know where "punch line" came from.
One of the things that hit the hardest was the simple fact that slave labor was, in no way, only manual labor. Yes, I should have realized it, but didn't. These resilient, strong, intelligent folks figured out how to farm some inhospitable land.
To me, this is a book filled with amazing people who made major contributions, largely untold. Until now.
Of course I added this to my favorite classroom libraries, but that just isn't nearly enough. I offered to purchase this book for any student interested in adding it to their personal bookshelves. I'm thrilled to say that demand is high.
April 17, 2023
I think we can all agree that American history as it's taught in schools is oversimplified: there's just no way to teach the historical events of the past 400-500 years in one school year and to treat any part of it with depth and nuance. What Michael Harriot points out in this book is that so much of what we've learned about the history of the United States is wrong, due to the erasure of Black (and Indigenous) people. And he's got the receipts.
While many of us will recognize the names of such Black notables as W.E.B. DuBois, Harriet Tubman, and Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriot introduces the reader to a number of Black people who should be recognized for their achievements in exploration, politics, business, war, journalism, education, etc., etc., etc. -- but who are barely known to the general public. He also pulls details from historical sources to show how the white settlers who are often claimed to be the founding fathers could not have succeeded without the knowledge and labor of Black people who were brought to the continent against their will and dehumanized for their efforts. And he repeatedly demonstrates that racism and white supremacy were woven into the U.S. constitution, legal system, law enforcement, education system, society, and monuments FROM THE START. (I'm telling you, he's got RECEIPTS.)
Harriot liberally seasons his history lessons with humor and wit, but he does not hold back from calling out the flaws in a whitewashed history of a parcel of stolen land. Black history and the Black experience have been limited to one "Black History Month" for too long, and this book opens up a whole new look at the country we think we know. This is probably the best history book I've read in a long time. 5 stars.
Thank you, WilliamMorrow and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book, Opinions expressed here are solely my own.
While many of us will recognize the names of such Black notables as W.E.B. DuBois, Harriet Tubman, and Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriot introduces the reader to a number of Black people who should be recognized for their achievements in exploration, politics, business, war, journalism, education, etc., etc., etc. -- but who are barely known to the general public. He also pulls details from historical sources to show how the white settlers who are often claimed to be the founding fathers could not have succeeded without the knowledge and labor of Black people who were brought to the continent against their will and dehumanized for their efforts. And he repeatedly demonstrates that racism and white supremacy were woven into the U.S. constitution, legal system, law enforcement, education system, society, and monuments FROM THE START. (I'm telling you, he's got RECEIPTS.)
Harriot liberally seasons his history lessons with humor and wit, but he does not hold back from calling out the flaws in a whitewashed history of a parcel of stolen land. Black history and the Black experience have been limited to one "Black History Month" for too long, and this book opens up a whole new look at the country we think we know. This is probably the best history book I've read in a long time. 5 stars.
Thank you, WilliamMorrow and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book, Opinions expressed here are solely my own.
July 15, 2022
I’m going to go ahead and give it a 5 without reading it based solely on the fact that we need more books like this in our society!!! Will update review in 2023 after I get my copy!
November 27, 2023
Nothing but the facts in this reeducation of history.
August 31, 2023
I learned a lot. Laughed too. Smart and not the same history you get. It’s redundant in parts and let’s up after the civil rights era. I wish there was more between 1970 and present.
October 10, 2023
5 stars = Utterly incredible. One of the best books I've read this year.
History is written by the victors, but it is made by the rebellious.
This book contains the information that your Social Studies and History textbooks intentionally omitted. While they still teach American children lies about Christopher Columbus discovering America, this book tells you about the actual first non-indigenous people that came to America’s shores. Forget the lies you were told about “state’s rights”, this book teaches you the real reason the Civil War was fought, as well as how the Revolutionary War was in large part due to protecting the practice of slavery.
Slavery existed in Africa before white people showed up, but human beings were not commodified or chattel. In pre-colonial Africa, enslaved people had legal rights, their status was not passed down to their children, and they did not serve as a major labor force. In fact, most of the previous iterations of human bondage around the world offered a path to freedom. To be fair, it is much easier to refer to America’s unique institution as “slavery” than it is to call it the “perpetual, race-based, constitutional, human trafficking enterprise that legally reduces human beings to chattel through the means of violence or the threat thereof.”
I could go on all day with examples, but you should just read the book to learn more about how our country was founded to how the GOP’s overt bigotry and fear mongering with imaginary threats continues to be effective today.
And according to Trump, America is the greatest country on earth, despite what the numbers say. We are a beacon of freedom and liberty even though we rank first in the world’s prison population. We are the smartest nation in the world, despite ranking fourteenth in education and second in ignorance. We believe in equality and tolerance, despite ranking number one on the list of the most racist countries in the world.
It is amazing and a great compliment to the author’s writing, that while discussing such vile and incomprehensible parts of history, he somehow makes you laugh. He manages to keep heavy topics light, even as your heart breaks and your temper flares. I found the inclusion of random childhood and family stories along with his digressions about food and music to be welcomed breaks that allowed your mind to consolidate and digest what you just took in.
From its inception, America was always a pyramid scheme where the wealthy benefited from the labor of the poor.
Perhaps because my spouse and I are in the process of emigrating out of the USA, or perhaps because like a privileged fool I did not pay attention to politics until several years ago when I was shocked to see the brazen bigotry and corruption that had always been there, this book really hit home. I highly recommend it to all Americans as well as everyone else.
Whiteness is not a social construct, nor is it as eternal or as confident as it seems. Whiteness is fleeting. It is a ghost; a shadow of an imaginary thing. It is the result of an insecurity that not only justifies man’s inhumanity to man, it reinforces the subconscious doubt in one’s own inferiority. Superiority does not require subjugation. A superior human being has no need.
You cannot fight oppression and discrimination, if you do not stay informed and vigilantly pay attention. In America, we must educate ourselves on our factual history, because you are not taught it in school nor any other inconvenient truths. Give me the painful truth every time, as I have no use for comfortable lies.
Like its history, this nation is a mirage. Its greatness is a figment of a collective white imagination that envisions a bright, shining star where there is only a dumpster fire. America is a con artist. It is a counterfeit farce of a white country convinced of its own supremacy. It is a boot on every Black throat and noose on every negro neck.
-------------------------------------------
First Sentence: I remember when I discovered America.
Favorite Quote: The lesson of Reconstruction is us. That we exist and breathe and love and sing and laugh and are still here is not a miracle or a revelation. It is a simple, unignorable fact that we cannot be extinguished. All the evil that the world has ever had to offer has been lobbed in our direction. They enslaved. They brainwashed. They lynched us separately and massacred us by the hundreds. They enslaved us by the boatload and sold our families in pieces. They mined our muscles and our minds for their profit and built an empire from it. And when we did the same without their help, they set it on fire.
This is America - a floor slick with blood.
But that is not who we are.
History is written by the victors, but it is made by the rebellious.
This book contains the information that your Social Studies and History textbooks intentionally omitted. While they still teach American children lies about Christopher Columbus discovering America, this book tells you about the actual first non-indigenous people that came to America’s shores. Forget the lies you were told about “state’s rights”, this book teaches you the real reason the Civil War was fought, as well as how the Revolutionary War was in large part due to protecting the practice of slavery.
Slavery existed in Africa before white people showed up, but human beings were not commodified or chattel. In pre-colonial Africa, enslaved people had legal rights, their status was not passed down to their children, and they did not serve as a major labor force. In fact, most of the previous iterations of human bondage around the world offered a path to freedom. To be fair, it is much easier to refer to America’s unique institution as “slavery” than it is to call it the “perpetual, race-based, constitutional, human trafficking enterprise that legally reduces human beings to chattel through the means of violence or the threat thereof.”
I could go on all day with examples, but you should just read the book to learn more about how our country was founded to how the GOP’s overt bigotry and fear mongering with imaginary threats continues to be effective today.
And according to Trump, America is the greatest country on earth, despite what the numbers say. We are a beacon of freedom and liberty even though we rank first in the world’s prison population. We are the smartest nation in the world, despite ranking fourteenth in education and second in ignorance. We believe in equality and tolerance, despite ranking number one on the list of the most racist countries in the world.
It is amazing and a great compliment to the author’s writing, that while discussing such vile and incomprehensible parts of history, he somehow makes you laugh. He manages to keep heavy topics light, even as your heart breaks and your temper flares. I found the inclusion of random childhood and family stories along with his digressions about food and music to be welcomed breaks that allowed your mind to consolidate and digest what you just took in.
From its inception, America was always a pyramid scheme where the wealthy benefited from the labor of the poor.
Perhaps because my spouse and I are in the process of emigrating out of the USA, or perhaps because like a privileged fool I did not pay attention to politics until several years ago when I was shocked to see the brazen bigotry and corruption that had always been there, this book really hit home. I highly recommend it to all Americans as well as everyone else.
Whiteness is not a social construct, nor is it as eternal or as confident as it seems. Whiteness is fleeting. It is a ghost; a shadow of an imaginary thing. It is the result of an insecurity that not only justifies man’s inhumanity to man, it reinforces the subconscious doubt in one’s own inferiority. Superiority does not require subjugation. A superior human being has no need.
You cannot fight oppression and discrimination, if you do not stay informed and vigilantly pay attention. In America, we must educate ourselves on our factual history, because you are not taught it in school nor any other inconvenient truths. Give me the painful truth every time, as I have no use for comfortable lies.
Like its history, this nation is a mirage. Its greatness is a figment of a collective white imagination that envisions a bright, shining star where there is only a dumpster fire. America is a con artist. It is a counterfeit farce of a white country convinced of its own supremacy. It is a boot on every Black throat and noose on every negro neck.
-------------------------------------------
First Sentence: I remember when I discovered America.
Favorite Quote: The lesson of Reconstruction is us. That we exist and breathe and love and sing and laugh and are still here is not a miracle or a revelation. It is a simple, unignorable fact that we cannot be extinguished. All the evil that the world has ever had to offer has been lobbed in our direction. They enslaved. They brainwashed. They lynched us separately and massacred us by the hundreds. They enslaved us by the boatload and sold our families in pieces. They mined our muscles and our minds for their profit and built an empire from it. And when we did the same without their help, they set it on fire.
This is America - a floor slick with blood.
But that is not who we are.
October 10, 2023
The author did a tremendous amount of research to present history that has not so much been forgotten, but has been ignored or intentionally distorted. This is a comprehensive presentation of African American history. It discusses many familiar events and people, as well as the unfamiliar, and offers a new way of looking at them. The author also includes family anecdotes, most of them humorous. Each chapter ends with a few very wry and pointed “study questions”. If you think the Civil War wasn’t about slavery, or the civil rights protests in the 1960s were “unnecessary”, or the Confederate flag represents anything other than white supremacy you need to read this. But I doubt that will happen.
The audiobook was narrated by the author. It personalized the book, but he’s not a great narrator. I wish that authors would acknowledge that narration takes talent, skill and experience - and leave it to the pros.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
The audiobook was narrated by the author. It personalized the book, but he’s not a great narrator. I wish that authors would acknowledge that narration takes talent, skill and experience - and leave it to the pros.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
October 22, 2023
A serious and funny Black history book that is heavily researched. It is structured like a textbook with questions at the end of each chapter, activities, and supplemental reading. You will definitely learn something new even if you are mostly familiar with Black American history. I was unfamiliar with the specific names of Black people (i.e. Juan Garrido and others) who came to America before 1619. Also enjoyed the chapter on slave resistance (Forest Joe, Kwaku & Kwamina). Michael Harriot also has a podcast called Drapetomania that dramatizes some of the material in the book (specifically the supplemental sections).
May 20, 2024
Essentially followed the same timeline and covered most of the same events as I was taught when I studied White AF history in school. Hopefully I benefited from seeing stuff from a different angle and through a different lens.
I've always found there to be much confusion and disagreement about the Reconstruction period after the USA Civil War. Michael Harriot helps set the record straight in Chapter 8: Construction.
Further reading about Reconstruction:
Reconstruction after the Civil War by John Hope Franklin.
Stony the Road by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Chapter 9 of Michael Harriot's book was something else and it convinced me I needed to get Ida B. Wells into my reading list.
Everyone should read chapter 11 of Michael Harriot's Black AF History, if for no other reason, just to meet some Black women who pursued a "four-century effort" to free Black folks. As Harriot explained, we don't want to be "painting a picture as if Black people [suddenly] woke up in 1955 and discovered they were oppressed." In addition to the women who desegregated Montgomery's buses, we meet Mary Church Terrell, Ida B. Wells, Mary Ellen Pleasant, Callie Guy House, Ella Baker, Amelia Boynton, Mary McLeod Bethune, and [drum roll please] "Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the queer black woman who invented rock and roll"!
Quote: p. 194. "On April 15, 1865, John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln, leaving Confederate sympathizer Andrew Johnson as President."
Quote p. 202: "To enforce their goals, the loose confederation of historically white fraternities all had one common strategy: killing as many Black people as possible and overthrowing the government that had enabled their freedom."
Quote p. 235: "Laws are just words unless they are enforced."
Quote p. 239: "In 1883, the Supreme Court [of the United States ruled] that Congress didn't have the power to regulate the racist actions of individuals or to overrule racist state laws." (Stick a pin in that! 📌 )
Quote p. 240: "With nothing but White America's sense of justice and fairness to prevent racial terrorism, white supremacist Democrats quicker gained control of state politics and declared open season on Black folks." 📍
Quote p. 250:"Perhaps the first step towards liberation begins with the dismantling of the idea that freedom is something that white people can give someone."
==========Version 4============
My Reading List for May to Nov. 2024.
==============================
READ Herding Donkeys by Ari Berman
READ An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
READ Black AF History by Michael Harriot
+A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
READ Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
+The Impending Crisis by David M. Potter
+Bleeding Kansas by Nicole Etcheson
+12 Years A Slave by Solomon Northup
READ Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
READ Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
READ Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson
+Eleanor by David Michaelis
READ Buses Are A Comin' by Charles Person with Richard Rooker
+Minority Rule by Ari Berman
+Strongmen by Ruth Ben-Ghait
+Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King
+Reading the Constitution by Stephen Breyer
+Allow Me to Retort by Elie Mystal
+Believing by Anita Hill
+How to Survive a Plague by David France
+The Blue Between Sky and Water by Susan Abulhawa
+Miral by Rula Jebreal
READ All the Rivers by Dorit Rabinyan
+The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
+Extra Life by Steven Johnson
============TSNull=============
I've always found there to be much confusion and disagreement about the Reconstruction period after the USA Civil War. Michael Harriot helps set the record straight in Chapter 8: Construction.
Further reading about Reconstruction:
Reconstruction after the Civil War by John Hope Franklin.
Stony the Road by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Chapter 9 of Michael Harriot's book was something else and it convinced me I needed to get Ida B. Wells into my reading list.
Everyone should read chapter 11 of Michael Harriot's Black AF History, if for no other reason, just to meet some Black women who pursued a "four-century effort" to free Black folks. As Harriot explained, we don't want to be "painting a picture as if Black people [suddenly] woke up in 1955 and discovered they were oppressed." In addition to the women who desegregated Montgomery's buses, we meet Mary Church Terrell, Ida B. Wells, Mary Ellen Pleasant, Callie Guy House, Ella Baker, Amelia Boynton, Mary McLeod Bethune, and [drum roll please] "Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the queer black woman who invented rock and roll"!
Quote: p. 194. "On April 15, 1865, John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln, leaving Confederate sympathizer Andrew Johnson as President."
Quote p. 202: "To enforce their goals, the loose confederation of historically white fraternities all had one common strategy: killing as many Black people as possible and overthrowing the government that had enabled their freedom."
Quote p. 235: "Laws are just words unless they are enforced."
Quote p. 239: "In 1883, the Supreme Court [of the United States ruled] that Congress didn't have the power to regulate the racist actions of individuals or to overrule racist state laws." (Stick a pin in that! 📌 )
Quote p. 240: "With nothing but White America's sense of justice and fairness to prevent racial terrorism, white supremacist Democrats quicker gained control of state politics and declared open season on Black folks." 📍
Quote p. 250:"Perhaps the first step towards liberation begins with the dismantling of the idea that freedom is something that white people can give someone."
==========Version 4============
My Reading List for May to Nov. 2024.
==============================
READ Herding Donkeys by Ari Berman
READ An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
READ Black AF History by Michael Harriot
+A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
READ Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
+The Impending Crisis by David M. Potter
+Bleeding Kansas by Nicole Etcheson
+12 Years A Slave by Solomon Northup
READ Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
READ Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
READ Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson
+Eleanor by David Michaelis
READ Buses Are A Comin' by Charles Person with Richard Rooker
+Minority Rule by Ari Berman
+Strongmen by Ruth Ben-Ghait
+Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King
+Reading the Constitution by Stephen Breyer
+Allow Me to Retort by Elie Mystal
+Believing by Anita Hill
+How to Survive a Plague by David France
+The Blue Between Sky and Water by Susan Abulhawa
+Miral by Rula Jebreal
READ All the Rivers by Dorit Rabinyan
+The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
+Extra Life by Steven Johnson
============TSNull=============
August 1, 2023
When Michael Harriot reframes American history, he doesn't pull any punches.
By turns entertaining and wrenching, Black AF History adds a much-needed perspective to our national story, one that rejects the easy answers and euphemisms that have long made mainstream American history feel both celebratory and comfortable. (Maybe I should pause here so that we can consider to whom mainstream history has catered...)
As for rejecting euphemisms, a few examples might help—The slave trade was human trafficking, so that's what Harriot calls it. Plantations were "forced labor enterprises," so he refers to them as such. And make no mistake: Jim Crow was apartheid.
At one point—in a single paragraph, seven terse sentences—Harriot describes the April 23, 1899 lynching of Sam Hose. And while his description is unflinching, my reading was not. I flinched. More than flinched, if I'm honest—I read the passage with wide eyes, a roiling stomach, and my hand over my mouth. Because it's one thing to acknowledge a campaign of mass lynchings or a historical period marked by such a campaign. It's quite another thing to describe in plain language the atrocities committed against a specific man—a man with a name, a family, and a story of his own—while a crowd of onlookers-cum-participants, who had "boarded trains to view the spectacle," cheered.
Time and time again, Harriot does this other thing.
There's so much more I could say about Black AF History, but I think what I most want to say is: Read this book.
And honestly? If you're white, read it twice. Once to allow yourself to huff in privileged outrage. (I expect quite a lot of, "Not all white people..." and, "But I'm not racist..." and "Why can't they just...") Then read it again and see it for what it is: a well-researched and bold portrayal of American history that absolutely should be read alongside those that we have long accepted as true—but that have never been complete.
[I received an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.]
By turns entertaining and wrenching, Black AF History adds a much-needed perspective to our national story, one that rejects the easy answers and euphemisms that have long made mainstream American history feel both celebratory and comfortable. (Maybe I should pause here so that we can consider to whom mainstream history has catered...)
As for rejecting euphemisms, a few examples might help—The slave trade was human trafficking, so that's what Harriot calls it. Plantations were "forced labor enterprises," so he refers to them as such. And make no mistake: Jim Crow was apartheid.
At one point—in a single paragraph, seven terse sentences—Harriot describes the April 23, 1899 lynching of Sam Hose. And while his description is unflinching, my reading was not. I flinched. More than flinched, if I'm honest—I read the passage with wide eyes, a roiling stomach, and my hand over my mouth. Because it's one thing to acknowledge a campaign of mass lynchings or a historical period marked by such a campaign. It's quite another thing to describe in plain language the atrocities committed against a specific man—a man with a name, a family, and a story of his own—while a crowd of onlookers-cum-participants, who had "boarded trains to view the spectacle," cheered.
Time and time again, Harriot does this other thing.
There's so much more I could say about Black AF History, but I think what I most want to say is: Read this book.
And honestly? If you're white, read it twice. Once to allow yourself to huff in privileged outrage. (I expect quite a lot of, "Not all white people..." and, "But I'm not racist..." and "Why can't they just...") Then read it again and see it for what it is: a well-researched and bold portrayal of American history that absolutely should be read alongside those that we have long accepted as true—but that have never been complete.
[I received an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.]
October 16, 2023
When you go beneath the surface of American history and you employ a comic’s wit with genius research centering Black people you get Black AF History. This is a must read book, not because it breaks new ground, but it unearths the underground so that you may see clearly the truth behind the sanitized version of history that has been mainstreamed during our lifetimes.
If you truly examine any success that happened in the colonies from planting crops to inoculation, when you go deep enough you will find an African responsible for by any weight and measure the so-called “success.” And those worm deep stories are consistently uncovered in these pages, making this a revelatory read while also providing you with side splitting moments.
There is an imagined conversation with RB(Racist Baby) that brings the discussion of racism to a level that even a baby could grasp. When we start to tell the unvarnished truth about America, only then can the healing begin. Perhaps Black AF History can be the starting point, because hard truths are more digestible with doses of humor and Black AF History delivers greatly on that maxim.
If you truly examine any success that happened in the colonies from planting crops to inoculation, when you go deep enough you will find an African responsible for by any weight and measure the so-called “success.” And those worm deep stories are consistently uncovered in these pages, making this a revelatory read while also providing you with side splitting moments.
There is an imagined conversation with RB(Racist Baby) that brings the discussion of racism to a level that even a baby could grasp. When we start to tell the unvarnished truth about America, only then can the healing begin. Perhaps Black AF History can be the starting point, because hard truths are more digestible with doses of humor and Black AF History delivers greatly on that maxim.
December 27, 2023
Whenever someone starts to shout about "erasing history" when a statue honoring a slaveowner or Confederate officer is taken down, I always wonder if they are deliberately ignoring all the history that has been erased to make those flawed historical figures seem heroic. Michael Harriot uses this book to bring some of the forgotten and/or suppressed history of Black people in America back into the conversation.
A natural storyteller, he laces even the most infuriating historical events with humor as well as justified outrage and inserts moments from his own family's tales and traditions for a personal touch. The chapters zip through hundreds of years of history, making me wish the book were twice as long so he could cover even more topics. Most chapters are followed by supplemental essays -- often short biographies of people who need to be more widely known -- and some very acidic pop quizzes.
Highly recommended.
FOR REFERENCE:
Contents:
Introduction
1. Earth, Wind, and America
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Greetings from Your Future Colonizer
2. The Church Fight That Started Slavery
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Key Terms
• Supplement - Before "Before": The First African Americans
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Colonizer or Nah?
• The Real Wakanda
3. The World, Recentered
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Name the Race
• Ana Nzinga - The King of Queens
• Supplement - The Unenslaving of Jemmy
• How White People Were Invented
4. Survival and Resistance: The Black American Revolution
• Supplement - Fear of a Black Nation
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity
5. Drapetomaniacs: Get Free or Die Trying
• Supplement - To Kill Whites: The Multicultural Rebellion of 1811
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: System Upgrade
6. The Negro, Spiritual
• Food Stop - The Top-Secret Recipe to Aunt Phyllis's Fried Chicken
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: How Black Is Your Church?
• Onesimus Saves the World
7. The Black Emancipation Proclamation : A Poem
• Supplement - The Lost Cause, Explained
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Rank the Lost Causes
8. Construction
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Inhumane Resources
9. Something Else
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Lynching or Nah?
• Food Stop - The Difference between Soul Food and Southern Cuisines
10. Whites Gone Wild: Uncle Rob Explains "Separate but Equal"
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: CTRL+Z for Racism
• Supplement - Funny AF: The Man Who Invented Laughter
11. So Devilish a Fire: The Black Women Who Started the Civil Rights Movement
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: More Fire
• Supplement - Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The Queer Black Woman Who Invented Rock and Roll
12. The Race War III: The Conspiracy Theory That Was True
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Whitemare
13. Thug Life: The Other Civil Rights Movement
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Some of the Good Ones
• Supplement - All-the-Way Free
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: One Good Reason
14. The Great White Heist
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Are You Invested in Inequality?
• Supplement: The Black Women Who Won Reparations
15. The Race of Politics: Uncle Rob Explains the Two-Party System
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Identity Politics
• Food Stop - Chicken Bog vs. Perlo
• The End of the Multiracial Coalition
16. Homework
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Final Exam
Acknowledgments
Works Not Cited: Black AF History Hacks
Endnotes
Index
A natural storyteller, he laces even the most infuriating historical events with humor as well as justified outrage and inserts moments from his own family's tales and traditions for a personal touch. The chapters zip through hundreds of years of history, making me wish the book were twice as long so he could cover even more topics. Most chapters are followed by supplemental essays -- often short biographies of people who need to be more widely known -- and some very acidic pop quizzes.
Highly recommended.
FOR REFERENCE:
Contents:
Introduction
1. Earth, Wind, and America
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Greetings from Your Future Colonizer
2. The Church Fight That Started Slavery
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Key Terms
• Supplement - Before "Before": The First African Americans
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Colonizer or Nah?
• The Real Wakanda
3. The World, Recentered
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Name the Race
• Ana Nzinga - The King of Queens
• Supplement - The Unenslaving of Jemmy
• How White People Were Invented
4. Survival and Resistance: The Black American Revolution
• Supplement - Fear of a Black Nation
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity
5. Drapetomaniacs: Get Free or Die Trying
• Supplement - To Kill Whites: The Multicultural Rebellion of 1811
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: System Upgrade
6. The Negro, Spiritual
• Food Stop - The Top-Secret Recipe to Aunt Phyllis's Fried Chicken
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: How Black Is Your Church?
• Onesimus Saves the World
7. The Black Emancipation Proclamation : A Poem
• Supplement - The Lost Cause, Explained
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Rank the Lost Causes
8. Construction
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Inhumane Resources
9. Something Else
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Lynching or Nah?
• Food Stop - The Difference between Soul Food and Southern Cuisines
10. Whites Gone Wild: Uncle Rob Explains "Separate but Equal"
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: CTRL+Z for Racism
• Supplement - Funny AF: The Man Who Invented Laughter
11. So Devilish a Fire: The Black Women Who Started the Civil Rights Movement
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: More Fire
• Supplement - Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The Queer Black Woman Who Invented Rock and Roll
12. The Race War III: The Conspiracy Theory That Was True
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Whitemare
13. Thug Life: The Other Civil Rights Movement
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Some of the Good Ones
• Supplement - All-the-Way Free
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: One Good Reason
14. The Great White Heist
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Are You Invested in Inequality?
• Supplement: The Black Women Who Won Reparations
15. The Race of Politics: Uncle Rob Explains the Two-Party System
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Identity Politics
• Food Stop - Chicken Bog vs. Perlo
• The End of the Multiracial Coalition
16. Homework
• Unit Review - Three Little Questions
• Unit Review - Activity: Final Exam
Acknowledgments
Works Not Cited: Black AF History Hacks
Endnotes
Index
October 23, 2023
This was definitely one of my most anticipated releases of this year. Michael Harriot is a force on Twitter and every single tweet thread of his is superbly educational and I’ve probably learnt more American history by following him than reading books. So ofcourse I was gonna checkout his book. And then I got the audiobook copy because how can I resist when he narrates it himself.
However much horrifying the subject matter in this book is, it’s also absolutely hilarious and I guess it would be too hard to read the gruesome history narrated in this book without some levity. While some of the book is about Black historical figures we know, the author gives us more context about their struggles and accomplishments and doesn’t forget to tell us how their complex lives are simplified and whitewashed in the mainstream. On the other hand, we also get to know about many forgotten Black heroes and the many atrocities they suffered and fought against. The author manages to intersperse this narrative with tidbits about Southern as well as African American cuisine, with lots of family anecdotes.
The author is blunt, to the point, no holds barred and funny while narrating this history of America that has been willfully ignored for the benefit of white supremacy. Every chapter is eye opening, and in the author’s words, this book as a whole is the true history of America - a country whose foundations are built on centuries of exploitation and racism. And if you want to know more of these unbridled truths, do checkout this book. Even if you don’t like reading history books, you won’t be able to put this down. And definitely checkout the audiobook for a much richer experience.
However much horrifying the subject matter in this book is, it’s also absolutely hilarious and I guess it would be too hard to read the gruesome history narrated in this book without some levity. While some of the book is about Black historical figures we know, the author gives us more context about their struggles and accomplishments and doesn’t forget to tell us how their complex lives are simplified and whitewashed in the mainstream. On the other hand, we also get to know about many forgotten Black heroes and the many atrocities they suffered and fought against. The author manages to intersperse this narrative with tidbits about Southern as well as African American cuisine, with lots of family anecdotes.
The author is blunt, to the point, no holds barred and funny while narrating this history of America that has been willfully ignored for the benefit of white supremacy. Every chapter is eye opening, and in the author’s words, this book as a whole is the true history of America - a country whose foundations are built on centuries of exploitation and racism. And if you want to know more of these unbridled truths, do checkout this book. Even if you don’t like reading history books, you won’t be able to put this down. And definitely checkout the audiobook for a much richer experience.
March 19, 2024
I love history, but I have, lately, had the sneaking suspicion that many of the history books I have been reading are unfairly one-sided and biased. Most, if not all, of the history books I have read have been written by white men. This is not to say that the information in them is wrong. It simply means that it’s not always all the information. There are perspectives that, historically, have, for whatever reason, been dismissed, ignored, or forgotten.
The fact that a large percentage of human beings in this country, until the middle of the last century, have never experienced the same freedoms and opportunities that a majority of Americans have experienced is not a new fact. It is, however, one that, within the past fifty years, is finally being voiced.
Elementary, middle school, and high school textbooks are slow to catch up with this trend. In many textbooks (especially some in Texas), the Civil War was a war fought over state’s rights. Period. It’s only half the truth. The Civil War was fought over state’s rights; specifically, the state’s rights to own slaves.
Slavery was a vile institution that white people in this country—-whether they owned slaves or not—-benefitted greatly from, economically. This is a fact, one that can’t be erased from history.
But slavery wasn’t the only horrible thing for which white people in this country are responsible. There’s the genocidal campaign against Native Americans (“Indians”, as Christopher Columbus mistakenly called them, as he brutally massacred many of them), the subjugation of women, the vilification of Mexicans, the mistreatment (and, in the case of the Japanese during WWII, internment) of Asian people.
Michael Harriot’s “Black AF History” is an eye-opening, humorous, and brutal exercise in historical revisionism, and a necessary one. It’s not revisionism in the false sense that most conservatives view revisionism. In other words, it’s not an alteration or an attempt to twist history to conform to modern standards. That’s the kind of bullshit backlash arguments that white supremacist historians make. This is a “re-vision” of history, or an attempt to add to the existing story through the addition of voices and perspectives that have historically been left out of the story.
For example, the Revolutionary War has always been taught as colonial America fighting back against the King’s unfair taxation, which is true. What isn’t mentioned is the role slavery played in the war, as Britain was toying with the idea of abolishing slavery (they finally did so in 1833), which worried the colonial leaders as slavery was a vital part of the economy. If slavery was abolished, a large percentage of the colonial workforce would suddenly have to be financially compensated. Plus, free slaves meant they could choose not to work, which means white people would have to fill those jobs, and no white person really wanted those jobs. Some historians argue that slavery wasn’t an issue in the revolution. Some agree that it was a minor issue. Harriot’s take is that, if you know white people, it’s not hard to see that many white people wouldn’t like the idea of giving up their slaves. Sure, taxation without representation was the main issue, but it’s silly to think slavery—-and the potential loss of a vital money-making institution—-didn’t play some part in the decision-making.
Don’t worry: most of Harriot’s book isn’t this controversial. A lot of it is just fascinating and heretofore unknown people and incidents that have been left out of history books, mainly because they were black. For example, a gospel singer named Rosetta Tharpe is credited for inventing Rock & Roll music, which is why she was inducted in the R&R Hall of Fame and Museum in 2017. Don’t take Harriot’s word for it, though: Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, and even Elvis Presley at some point in their careers acknowledged the major influence that Tharpe had on their music.
Harriott is also a foodie, like me. His description and histories of South Carolina cuisine such as chicken bog and chicken perlo—-both dishes created by slaves based on their ease of availability and the fact that it could easily be made into batches that could feed dozens—-is mouthwateringly delicious in his detail.
“Black AF History”, besides being enlightening and educational, is also just fun as hell. Harriot incorporates a lot of his own childhood, being home-schooled by his parents and a slew of aunts and uncles, as well as a huge record album and book library where he discovered the works of Earth, Wind, & Fire and W.E.B. DuBois, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, and lots of science fiction.
This should be required reading for every high school AP History class.
The fact that a large percentage of human beings in this country, until the middle of the last century, have never experienced the same freedoms and opportunities that a majority of Americans have experienced is not a new fact. It is, however, one that, within the past fifty years, is finally being voiced.
Elementary, middle school, and high school textbooks are slow to catch up with this trend. In many textbooks (especially some in Texas), the Civil War was a war fought over state’s rights. Period. It’s only half the truth. The Civil War was fought over state’s rights; specifically, the state’s rights to own slaves.
Slavery was a vile institution that white people in this country—-whether they owned slaves or not—-benefitted greatly from, economically. This is a fact, one that can’t be erased from history.
But slavery wasn’t the only horrible thing for which white people in this country are responsible. There’s the genocidal campaign against Native Americans (“Indians”, as Christopher Columbus mistakenly called them, as he brutally massacred many of them), the subjugation of women, the vilification of Mexicans, the mistreatment (and, in the case of the Japanese during WWII, internment) of Asian people.
Michael Harriot’s “Black AF History” is an eye-opening, humorous, and brutal exercise in historical revisionism, and a necessary one. It’s not revisionism in the false sense that most conservatives view revisionism. In other words, it’s not an alteration or an attempt to twist history to conform to modern standards. That’s the kind of bullshit backlash arguments that white supremacist historians make. This is a “re-vision” of history, or an attempt to add to the existing story through the addition of voices and perspectives that have historically been left out of the story.
For example, the Revolutionary War has always been taught as colonial America fighting back against the King’s unfair taxation, which is true. What isn’t mentioned is the role slavery played in the war, as Britain was toying with the idea of abolishing slavery (they finally did so in 1833), which worried the colonial leaders as slavery was a vital part of the economy. If slavery was abolished, a large percentage of the colonial workforce would suddenly have to be financially compensated. Plus, free slaves meant they could choose not to work, which means white people would have to fill those jobs, and no white person really wanted those jobs. Some historians argue that slavery wasn’t an issue in the revolution. Some agree that it was a minor issue. Harriot’s take is that, if you know white people, it’s not hard to see that many white people wouldn’t like the idea of giving up their slaves. Sure, taxation without representation was the main issue, but it’s silly to think slavery—-and the potential loss of a vital money-making institution—-didn’t play some part in the decision-making.
Don’t worry: most of Harriot’s book isn’t this controversial. A lot of it is just fascinating and heretofore unknown people and incidents that have been left out of history books, mainly because they were black. For example, a gospel singer named Rosetta Tharpe is credited for inventing Rock & Roll music, which is why she was inducted in the R&R Hall of Fame and Museum in 2017. Don’t take Harriot’s word for it, though: Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, and even Elvis Presley at some point in their careers acknowledged the major influence that Tharpe had on their music.
Harriott is also a foodie, like me. His description and histories of South Carolina cuisine such as chicken bog and chicken perlo—-both dishes created by slaves based on their ease of availability and the fact that it could easily be made into batches that could feed dozens—-is mouthwateringly delicious in his detail.
“Black AF History”, besides being enlightening and educational, is also just fun as hell. Harriot incorporates a lot of his own childhood, being home-schooled by his parents and a slew of aunts and uncles, as well as a huge record album and book library where he discovered the works of Earth, Wind, & Fire and W.E.B. DuBois, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, and lots of science fiction.
This should be required reading for every high school AP History class.
![Profile Image for laurel [the suspected bibliophile].](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/users/1645808644i/7494844._UX200_CR0,6,200,200_.jpg)
June 11, 2024
A must-read.
This book was hilarious. I was cackling almost the entire time, which was probably not the point of the book but damn. This was funny. I learned so much—particularly about the Spanish conquistador explorations into Turtle Island (and that several of the Spaniards were Black) and about the introduction of African slavery into the Americas through Spain (hint, it was not 1619). So much of what I learned about history in the US has been very Anglo-centric, with a lot of "firsts" that were disproved in this book—which brings us to the core of the book, in that history is political, nostalgia is a mindfuck, and the US has a real big white supremacist problem.
Anywho, if you're looking to have a good time (while seriously questioning your sense of humor) while learning a shit ton about American history, check this book out.
Highly recommend choosing the audiobook. The delivery is *chef's kiss* perfection.
This book was hilarious. I was cackling almost the entire time, which was probably not the point of the book but damn. This was funny. I learned so much—particularly about the Spanish conquistador explorations into Turtle Island (and that several of the Spaniards were Black) and about the introduction of African slavery into the Americas through Spain (hint, it was not 1619). So much of what I learned about history in the US has been very Anglo-centric, with a lot of "firsts" that were disproved in this book—which brings us to the core of the book, in that history is political, nostalgia is a mindfuck, and the US has a real big white supremacist problem.
Anywho, if you're looking to have a good time (while seriously questioning your sense of humor) while learning a shit ton about American history, check this book out.
Highly recommend choosing the audiobook. The delivery is *chef's kiss* perfection.
January 8, 2024
I was really looking forward to reading this but I kept getting distracted by the efforts to be - I dunno, funny? Sarcastic? Driving wit? Smart ass? I think that's a great style for an essay but trying to maintain it for a full length book didn't work. The way I read it, it took away from all of this interesting and important information. I'd love to read a version where the content was allowed to speak more for itself and the other stuff was used to highlight specific points.
November 25, 2023
Very informative to say the least, but the campy writing and unceasing deluge of lame stereotypes were very distracting and annoying; where were the editors? One very unsettling blind spot in Harriot’s mission to keep things Black AF is his unyielding devotion to his White AF religious upbringing. Harriot devotes an unnecessary amount of pages preforming mental gymnastics trying to pretend Christianity is a Black religion, Jesus was Black man, Black people are the OG Israelites and the God of the Bible wrote specific instructions on how to enslave those “other gentiles.”
For someone who can unearth the origins of Black culture underpinning contemporary “White society” and who can also find evidence of White supremacy here, there and everywhere, it’s alarming how Harriot can’t see the most egregious form of White supremacy being manifested in that pale skin, blue-eye and blonde hair Jesus pictorial staring back at him every time he opens his Bible. The psychological impairment of Black people unwilling to learn about their own religious history and venerate “super heroes” in their own likeness is an uncomfortable topic Black intellectuals need to seriously address if we ever plan to keep things Black AF going forward. How can Black people get a firm grasp of their own fractured history if we spend all our time studying the “Biblical historical record” of Jews in Egypt?
And just like your typical fake outrage “woke grifter,” Harriot predictable ascribes EVERY problem in America to Trump while dutifully failing to mention or give credit to Obama for dropping more bombs on Africa than his Republican counterparts while militarizing the police against Black people in America, Biden for funding literal Nazis in Ukraine and his super racist 1994 Crime Bill nor Hillary Clinton for her “super predator” comments, her “hot sauce” pandering and let’s not forget her mirthful cackling upon hearing the annihilation of the most prosperous country in Africa. And you’d be a fool to think Harriot would have the balls to comment on Biden’s egregious, “You ain’t Black!” statement to the Black voters in America; he knows the people in his bubble can’t tolerate even the slightest hint of scrutiny and self reflection. Sadly, Harriot is just another “Watchtower” contributor; by the cult for the cult and the truth be damned.
“… In 325 Constantine convened the Nicean Creed and separated God into three. Decided Jesus was born on December 25th and raised up on the third day is a myth, plus to deceive us, he commissioned Michelangelo to paint white pictures of Jesus. He used his aunt, uncle, and nephew, subconsciously that affects you, it makes you put White people closer to God.”
Ras Kass - “Nature of the Threat”
“The White man will give you a gun, ‘cause he knows you ain’t gonna turn around and shoot him!”
Louis Farrakhan addressing rampant Black-on-Black violence in America.
For someone who can unearth the origins of Black culture underpinning contemporary “White society” and who can also find evidence of White supremacy here, there and everywhere, it’s alarming how Harriot can’t see the most egregious form of White supremacy being manifested in that pale skin, blue-eye and blonde hair Jesus pictorial staring back at him every time he opens his Bible. The psychological impairment of Black people unwilling to learn about their own religious history and venerate “super heroes” in their own likeness is an uncomfortable topic Black intellectuals need to seriously address if we ever plan to keep things Black AF going forward. How can Black people get a firm grasp of their own fractured history if we spend all our time studying the “Biblical historical record” of Jews in Egypt?
And just like your typical fake outrage “woke grifter,” Harriot predictable ascribes EVERY problem in America to Trump while dutifully failing to mention or give credit to Obama for dropping more bombs on Africa than his Republican counterparts while militarizing the police against Black people in America, Biden for funding literal Nazis in Ukraine and his super racist 1994 Crime Bill nor Hillary Clinton for her “super predator” comments, her “hot sauce” pandering and let’s not forget her mirthful cackling upon hearing the annihilation of the most prosperous country in Africa. And you’d be a fool to think Harriot would have the balls to comment on Biden’s egregious, “You ain’t Black!” statement to the Black voters in America; he knows the people in his bubble can’t tolerate even the slightest hint of scrutiny and self reflection. Sadly, Harriot is just another “Watchtower” contributor; by the cult for the cult and the truth be damned.
“… In 325 Constantine convened the Nicean Creed and separated God into three. Decided Jesus was born on December 25th and raised up on the third day is a myth, plus to deceive us, he commissioned Michelangelo to paint white pictures of Jesus. He used his aunt, uncle, and nephew, subconsciously that affects you, it makes you put White people closer to God.”
Ras Kass - “Nature of the Threat”
“The White man will give you a gun, ‘cause he knows you ain’t gonna turn around and shoot him!”
Louis Farrakhan addressing rampant Black-on-Black violence in America.
February 23, 2024
Whewww took me some time but I’m done. I knew this book was going to be a 5 star before I was halfway through. I left with so much knowledge and could tell the author does extensive research. I appreciated the pop quizzes, the activities and the humor. The authors wit kept my attention.
October 10, 2023
WHEEEEEEEEEW! Hot out the gate!
September 2, 2023
This is the textbook they can't put in schools! Sharp, biting, witty 1619 Project meets Paul Mooney!
Please don't take my Black card because even I didn't feel Black enough to get all the inside jokes. (Full disclosure though- I don't know how to play Spades so that may have something to do with it.)
This book is truly Black AF! Each chapter had so much new-to-me knowledge that I could only get through 2 chapters per day in order to fully digest what I was learning. I feel smarter already and ready to start a Revolution.
The author reports 1 of his uncles was a Black Panther and I can definitely see the influence. Oh how free it is to grow up in the Middle Room and already know that Black people are the Greatest on Earth! Nothing to unlearn or believe that we are not deserving. This is how the people of Wakanda must feel- proud to be Black AF! I always knew American History was White history because the victors get to write the history books, but not this one. This history is Black AF!
Please don't take my Black card because even I didn't feel Black enough to get all the inside jokes. (Full disclosure though- I don't know how to play Spades so that may have something to do with it.)
This book is truly Black AF! Each chapter had so much new-to-me knowledge that I could only get through 2 chapters per day in order to fully digest what I was learning. I feel smarter already and ready to start a Revolution.
The author reports 1 of his uncles was a Black Panther and I can definitely see the influence. Oh how free it is to grow up in the Middle Room and already know that Black people are the Greatest on Earth! Nothing to unlearn or believe that we are not deserving. This is how the people of Wakanda must feel- proud to be Black AF! I always knew American History was White history because the victors get to write the history books, but not this one. This history is Black AF!
March 22, 2024
This was a really good read!!
May 2, 2024
Really fantastic. Learned so much I didn’t know.
And written by a fellow South Carolinian! 🤠
And written by a fellow South Carolinian! 🤠
December 12, 2023
This book is Black AF and I loved every minute of it. Imagine your really smart uncles and granddad gathering you up to tell you stories of the past and the truth of America and then you got this book. It’s read by the author and the narration was grade A. He’s so funny and personable it felt like I was just kicking it with my cousins while I learned a whole lot of Black history. If you love or even like his tweets you won’t be disappointed. I loved that the book spoke in everyday around the way language and his NYC accent made me miss home
November 21, 2023
This is not a book for the faint of heart, nor is it a book for those who hold their sacred cows close. Harriot takes everything you thought you knew about America and turns it on its head. A must read for every American, especially my fellow white citizens.
December 12, 2023
Easily my favorite book of the year. Please disregard any book recommendation I’ve ever given and just read or LISTEN to this book. I’m so grateful I’ve lived long enough to experience this phenomenal, masterful work. Thank you Michael Harriot!
February 4, 2024
Incredibly well-researched, humorous but not blasé, rooted in memoir-like vignettes of Harriot’s family, and sprinkled with prose. The writing is high quality, varied, and engaging. I love the way Harriot sometimes waits to reveal the identity of the person whose story he is telling, almost like a mystery book. I learned significantly more about Black and queer women from this book than others, which was definitely a nice change.
Overall, excellent review of Black (American) history in a format I’ve not read before, and love the required and recommended reading lists at the end too.
Overall, excellent review of Black (American) history in a format I’ve not read before, and love the required and recommended reading lists at the end too.
June 1, 2024
Everyone should read this. The storytelling is immaculate and makes it that much more impactful.
March 8, 2024
A GR friend of mine recently read and reviewed this book and that review piqued my interest (Thank you Kathleen) and I ordered a copy. My friend gave the book 5 stars but, alas, I cannot do that. While the book is well worth reading I do not hesitate saying that its content warrants a solid 4 stars but its writing quality is questionable at best and poor at worst so I give the writing 3 stars and a total rating of 3.5 stars.
Let's deal with the writing first. For reasons not specifically stated the book is formatted in a manner very much like a textbook. Every chapter ends with a list of questions to be answered by the reader and then a list of suggest "activities" for the reader. Occasionally a "supplement" will also be included. The supplement will be a short article or treatment of some item or historical figure of Black culture or history. I found this odd and wondered if the author intended this book for classroom use. This format wasn't particularly bothersome but what was was the author's frequent attempts at humor and sarcastic remarks referencing popular cultural figures and practices. Some of the humor was amusing but most of it was silly and even juvenile and a lot of it will go right over the head of some readers, mine included. Additionally, the author needlessly included references to his family and its history and even included what I believe was the fictional participation of a family member in the discussions. All I could imagine to explain this practice was, again, that the book was intended for younger readers and this technique was thought to make the reading more attractive to that age group. Whatever the intent the author never explained it and I thought the practice demeaned the seriousness of the book's subject. A good book about Black history doesn't need a laugh track and from the comments I've read about this book I am not alone in thinking this.
If you can overlook the writing style you will find a truly enlightening reading experience. The first half of the book deals with our classic early historical events but gives the reader the Black perspective of these events. Specifically, while Blacks participated in both our Revolutionary War and in the Civil War patriotism was not the primary motivation for this participation. Black people wanted to survive and be free and they hitched their wagon to the side that seemed to offer the best prospect for achieving those goals. The euphemisms of states rights vs union was just that, a euphemism for the slavery issue. After the Civil War and the legal end of slavery the contest morphed into states rights vs strong central government which was another euphemism for the preservation of white male domination of government in which both political parties participated to the detriment of Blacks and anybody that wasn't a white male. The author details how the politically parties struggled to insure this preservation throughout our history up to the present day. This book was eye-opening for me and the author even has me thinking differently about the subject of reparations. Maybe reparations for slavery is not so much a thing but reparations for Blacks being shutout of participation in benefits like the WWII GI Bill and the intentional devaluing of Black owned real estate that resulted in the inability to obtain loans to improve property thus contributing to creating slums is worth discussing. This was a really good book that I wish the author had taken more seriously. Enjoy.
Let's deal with the writing first. For reasons not specifically stated the book is formatted in a manner very much like a textbook. Every chapter ends with a list of questions to be answered by the reader and then a list of suggest "activities" for the reader. Occasionally a "supplement" will also be included. The supplement will be a short article or treatment of some item or historical figure of Black culture or history. I found this odd and wondered if the author intended this book for classroom use. This format wasn't particularly bothersome but what was was the author's frequent attempts at humor and sarcastic remarks referencing popular cultural figures and practices. Some of the humor was amusing but most of it was silly and even juvenile and a lot of it will go right over the head of some readers, mine included. Additionally, the author needlessly included references to his family and its history and even included what I believe was the fictional participation of a family member in the discussions. All I could imagine to explain this practice was, again, that the book was intended for younger readers and this technique was thought to make the reading more attractive to that age group. Whatever the intent the author never explained it and I thought the practice demeaned the seriousness of the book's subject. A good book about Black history doesn't need a laugh track and from the comments I've read about this book I am not alone in thinking this.
If you can overlook the writing style you will find a truly enlightening reading experience. The first half of the book deals with our classic early historical events but gives the reader the Black perspective of these events. Specifically, while Blacks participated in both our Revolutionary War and in the Civil War patriotism was not the primary motivation for this participation. Black people wanted to survive and be free and they hitched their wagon to the side that seemed to offer the best prospect for achieving those goals. The euphemisms of states rights vs union was just that, a euphemism for the slavery issue. After the Civil War and the legal end of slavery the contest morphed into states rights vs strong central government which was another euphemism for the preservation of white male domination of government in which both political parties participated to the detriment of Blacks and anybody that wasn't a white male. The author details how the politically parties struggled to insure this preservation throughout our history up to the present day. This book was eye-opening for me and the author even has me thinking differently about the subject of reparations. Maybe reparations for slavery is not so much a thing but reparations for Blacks being shutout of participation in benefits like the WWII GI Bill and the intentional devaluing of Black owned real estate that resulted in the inability to obtain loans to improve property thus contributing to creating slums is worth discussing. This was a really good book that I wish the author had taken more seriously. Enjoy.
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