64 pages • 2-hour read
Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America
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Themes
Creativity and Resilience in Black American Culture
The combined forces of resilience and creativity in Black American culture are the main focus of Black AF History. Harriot illustrates how, from the very beginnings of African captives enslaved in America to the current Black Lives Matter movement, the Black American community meets overwhelming oppression with cleverness, skill, and resilience. From the brutalities of slavery to the ongoing struggles against systemic racism, Black individuals and communities have continuously demonstrated their ability to not only survive but thrive through resilience and creativity.
The resilience displayed by enslaved Africans who endured the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade continued in the independent Gullah Geechee community, formed from disparate West African captives. Relatively unbothered by their white enslavers, these highly skilled farmers and cattle herders formed their own culture and unique American dialect called Geechee, which influences American English with its West African vocabulary. Since the beginning of slavery in America, enslaved people have resisted and revolted against it, sometimes joining with Indigenous Americans to defeat their white enslavers and other times using violence to escape and protect themselves. Despite the fantastical myths about “content” or passive enslaved people in the South, Black enslaved people always fought for their survival through varied and ingenious means. They sabotaged farm equipment, engaged in labor strikes, stole food and sold or ate it, and eventually crippled the economy of the South by self-emancipating through escape. Enslaved rebels struck fear into the hearts of the white enslavers through sophisticated means of revolt, making plans and using their unique cultural heritage, like war dancing and drumming, to communicate with one another unbeknownst to their enslavers.
Black enslaved Americans were also deeply creative and resilient in their military knowledge and engagement. Harriot cites the example of Jemmy, a West African warrior who single-handedly ended the African slave trade to America for 10 years because the enslavers feared his military brilliance. Other examples include the enslaved people who escaped to fight for the British during the Revolutionary War and the Black Americans who did the same with the Union during the Civil War. In these instances, Black participation in military endeavors proved instrumental to victory. Harriet Tubman became the first woman to lead a military mission for the US armed forces, using her ingenuity and reconnaissance intel to secure victory. Robert Smalls easily tricked the Confederates into letting him pass through to the Union Blockade, where he promptly surrendered Confederate guns to the Union and took his freedom.
Harriot points out that one of the most potent forms of creative expression to emerge from enslaved Africans is their interpretation of Christianity. The “Black church” not only operated as a means of communication and solidarity among enslaved people but also as a source of spiritual sustenance and resilience in the face of oppression. The Black church creatively transformed Christianity to serve enslaved people, using churches and preachers as covert means of resistance and escape.
Maroons, or runaways, also used resourcefulness to escape slave catchers. Living in some of the most inhospitable swampy regions, they avoided capture by living off the land and making their settlements easy to destroy and build again somewhere else. Some runaways are recorded escaping again and again, showing their resilience by refusing to surrender to white oppression.
The resilience of Black Americans was further demonstrated during the Jim Crow era and the civil rights movement. Despite facing violent repression and systemic discrimination, Black resisters exhibited unwavering courage and determination in their pursuit of survival, justice, and equality. Their resilience in the face of adversity not only catalyzed significant social and political change but also inspired future generations to continue the struggle for civil rights. The Freedom Riders and the Black Panthers used complex and strategic forms of protest that forced the hands of white leadership to acquiesce to them, despite the violent backlash from racists.
The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement furthermore represents a powerful testament to the resilience and creativity of Black Americans in the fight against systemic racism and police brutality. Founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer, BLM has grown into a global movement advocating for racial justice and equality. Through grassroots organizing, protest, and digital activism, BLM has mobilized millions of people around the world to confront anti-Black racism and demand systemic change. The movement’s decentralized structure and emphasis on intersectionality reflect the diverse and resilient nature of Black communities, highlighting the importance of collective action and solidarity in the struggle for liberation.
The Effects of Systemic Racism
The institution of slavery, a foundational aspect of American history and the key to the American colony economy, represents one of the most egregious forms of systemic racism. For over two centuries, millions of Africans were forcibly enslaved and subjected to brutal exploitation on plantations across the United States. Slavery not only facilitated the accumulation of wealth for white enslavers but also laid the groundwork for the pervasive racial hierarchies that persist to this day. Laws made in the 1600s and 1700s enshrined a particularly brutal form of slavery for Black people specifically, enslaving their children in perpetuity. This cemented Black people as an underclass defined as “property” rather than “people.” This did not prevent white enslavers from constantly fearing an uprising from their “property,” leading them to push for legislation that would bolster their ownership. They also used mob violence and terrorism to discourage rebellion and running away, often decapitating rebellious enslaved people and putting their heads on spikes outside their cities as a warning to other Black Americans. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required even free states to capture and return runaway enslaved people to their enslavers, cementing a racially based hierarchy that victimized Black Americans.
The legal doctrine of “separate but equal,” established by the Supreme Court in the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson, exemplifies the codification of systemic racism within American culture. This ruling sanctioned racial segregation in public facilities, perpetuating the marginalization and disenfranchisement of Black Americans. Despite the eventual overturning of “separate but equal” in the 1954 case of Brown v. Board of Education, its legacy endured through the proliferation of discriminatory practices and policies, particularly in the Jim Crow South after the Civil War.
The Jim Crow era, characterized by widespread racial segregation and violence, further entrenched systemic racism in American culture. Black Americans faced pervasive discrimination in virtually every aspect of life, from access to education and employment to voting rights and public accommodations. Lynchings, voter suppression, and the denial of basic civil liberties were commonplace, perpetuating a system of racial subjugation and inequality. While the Northern states promised the possibility of economic advancement and freedom from Jim Crow, Black migrants encountered new forms of discrimination and segregation in cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles. Redlining, discriminatory housing policies, and employment discrimination limited Black Americans’ access to quality housing, education, and employment opportunities, perpetuating cycles of poverty and inequality.
The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s marked a pivotal moment in the fight against systemic racism, as Black Americans and their allies mobilized to challenge segregation and demand equal rights under the law. The civil rights movement achieved significant legislative victories, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. However, the struggle for racial justice was far from over as systemic racism persisted in the form of institutionalized discrimination and structural inequality.
The Southern strategy and the later War on Drugs, initiated by President Richard Nixon in the 1970s and escalated by subsequent administrations, represent modern examples of systemic racism within American culture. Despite being framed as a response to drug-related crime, the War on Drugs disproportionately targeted Black and Brown communities, leading to mass incarceration and the perpetuation of racial disparities within the criminal justice system. Draconian sentencing laws, racial profiling, and unequal access to legal representation have contributed to the disproportionate incarceration of Black Americans and the criminalization of poverty and addiction.
The enduring legacy of systemic racism is also evident in the racial wealth gap, which continues to widen despite decades of supposed progress. Historical injustices such as slavery, segregation, and redlining have deprived generations of Black Americans of opportunities for wealth accumulation, homeownership, and economic stability. Today, the median wealth of white households is nearly 10 times that of Black households, reflecting the enduring impact of systemic racism on economic opportunity and mobility.
The Erasure of Black Contributions to American Culture
Throughout American history, Black people have made significant and vital contributions to the fabric of society, yet they are often overshadowed or erased by white supremacist historical narratives. These narratives perpetuate a distorted view of history that minimizes the agency, achievements, and genius of Black individuals and communities. For instance, the first Black people in America were not enslaved people; they were Africans and Europeans exploring with Spanish and Portuguese crews. Another compelling example is Onesimus, an enslaved man from Constantinople enslaved by Cotton Mather, the famous Puritan leader. Onesimus told Mather about his inoculation against smallpox, which eventually led to Massachusetts promoting the first inoculations in America. Mather was given all the credit, and Onesimus was virtually erased.
Enslaved people from West Africa were also the only reason that rice culture in the Carolinas became a success, bringing their complex engineering and farming experience to their enslavers’ land. However, the intellectual property of these enslaved people was virtually erased, and they were cast as passive laborers, acquiescing to the grand visions of their white enslavers. Rebels against enslavers were also erased from history, since it served the South to portray enslaved people as mostly passive and even happy with their lot. The brilliant, resilient resistance of enslaved Black people contradicted that narrative, so infamous runaways and resistors like Kook and Quamana, Jemmy, and Forest Joe are virtually erased from mainstream historical narratives.
During the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, Black contributions were instrumental in the military successes of the British and the Union. Though the British eventually lost, Black enslaved people used them as a means of attaining freedom, willingly offered up intel about the American revolutionaries, and struck fear in the hearts of enslavers through their military success. Traditional narratives about the Revolutionary War, however, cast all the heroes as white and ignore the brutality of the enslaving Founding Fathers. In the Civil War, Black soldiers were vital to the success of the Union in beating the Confederate traitors. Fugitives from slavery, deemed “contraband,” brought stolen goods, intel, knowledge of the terrain, and military experience to the Union, while bankrupting the South by emancipating themselves. However, even Northern narratives about the Civil War omit Black resistance and military success, choosing to romanticize the tragedy of the war that pitted white people against one another.
Black activists and leaders have been at the forefront of social justice movements throughout American history, yet their contributions are often downplayed or misrepresented. Figures like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks are celebrated for their roles in the civil rights movement, but the broader grassroots activism of everyday Black individuals is often overlooked. Black women, especially, are erased from American history, especially if they chose to call out more famous Black male activists, like Ida B. Wells or Ella Cook.
Black scholars and educators have made significant contributions to academia and education, yet their achievements are often marginalized. Figures like W. E. B. Du Bois, Carter G. Woodson, and Mary McLeod Bethune played key roles in advancing education and intellectual discourse, yet their contributions are sometimes overlooked in mainstream educational curricula. These examples illustrate how white supremacist historical narratives perpetuate a distorted view of American history that marginalizes, minimizes, or erases the contributions of Black people.
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