Publisher's Synopsis
Reclaiming Black History presents a new narrative that ends the shameless separation of African-American, Native-American, and Mexican-American history from standard American history. It does not make white Americans the center of American history. Instead these writings place all the groups in the context of actual historical events, cooperating, clashing, coexisting and contributing to make America what it is today.Reclaiming Black History literally tells the history of saints and scoundrels. These stories about black, brown, red and white men and women tell how they struggled to understand and coexist with each other. Reclaiming Black History also tells of the scoundrels who used and pitted people against each other for their own personal gain and profit. Unlike standard American history, these essays discuss slave revolts that were actually successful, which meant slaves escaped. Revolts were often planned and coordinated with other slaves, Native Americans and white Americans. Slaves carefully considered how their decisions to form alliances with other groups and to revolt would affect them.Whites of goodwill helped, cooperated and coexisted with blacks and Native Americans. They also were in conflict, and at times whites paid with their lives for the decision to help or oppose people of color. These essays cover a wide swath of American history. From Maroons fighting for freedom in impassable swamps, to an abolitionist senators being beaten in the halls of congress, to blacks and whites cooperating to run the Underground Railroad, Reclaiming Black History discusses the physical, social, economic, and psychic conflicts and connections these Americans shared. Native Americans are represented as they actually were, not as they are seen in the common historical narrative (as irrational savages or passive sidekicks). Native Americans were powerful in their own right, people who thought strategically and deeply about how the repercussions of their actions would affect them and others in the future. They formed alliances with whites, black and brown people to achieve and protect their own rights. Reclaiming Black History presents women in a new narrative, as powerful individuals. From the women of color in the South who used hairstyles and headdresses as a means of protest against inequality, to a petite white woman from the North helping slaves escape, Reclaiming Black History highlights many of these women for the first time, revealing the common sense story of how they fit into the American historical narrative. Reclaiming Black History gives the names and shows images of some of these heroes and scoundrels for the first time. In this new narrative, people of color are no longer nameless invisible contributors to our country
