Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America

“In this book, there is no America. In this book, the country we know as the United States is just a parcel of land that was stolen and repurposed as a settler state using European logic and the laws of white supremacy.”

This quote epitomizes the vivid imagery and forceful language that defines Harriot’s narrative tone. This quote succinctly sums up the inaccuracies of the myth of America accepted by many contemporary Americans.

“As long as the white men kept their distance, the chief of chiefs believed the two groups could coexist in peace, which was a strange concept for the Europeans.”

This quote showcases the humor that permeates this book. It also points out that the settlers were entirely responsible for the violence between them and Indigenous Americans. Though Wahunsenacah made efforts to be hospitable, the settlers did not extend the same courtesy to his people.

“This was not about human rights. They fully understood that building an entirely new society required human subjugation. Nearly all of them agreed that there was a better way to go about colonizing the New World: African slaves.”

This quote discusses the prosaic attitudes of the often mythologized “discoverers” of America. Understanding that their limited European skill set and labor force stood no chance of creating profit, even the priests who decried violence against Indigenous peoples agreed that exploitation in some form was necessary to colonize the Americas.