As an '80s baby that carved my way through the public school system, I was taught that early settlers in America were brave explorers looking for new opportunities, and that the captured Black Africans, who provided the labor that built this country, were just mindless slaves. I also learned that an early pioneer like Thomas Jefferson was a brilliant thinker, which made him an honorable president. Michael Harriot, host of the podcast "Drapetomaniax: Unshackled History" explained the dangers of a single person narrative and the incomplete, in accurate way we are educated on a recent episode of "Salon Talks."
Harriot is most known for his column at The Grio and MSNBC and CNN commentary. His new book "Black AF History" details America’s history in the most true and unapologetic way possible. Readers of Harriot’s book will learn to approach history from a vantage point opposite of the oppressor, meaning that those early settlers in America weren’t necessarily brave explorers, but land-stealing cannibals, yes they robbed Native Americans and ate brown leather belts in addition to fetuses to survive those blistering cold winters before they learned to work the land. And that the Black mindless slaves were doctors, educators and leaders in their homeland, not just laborers. And that as Thomas Jefferson wasn’t just a president, but also a slave-owning rapist. Knowing the complete truth changes everything.
