Publisher's Synopsis
Ibram Kendi's comprehensive history of racial thought in the US, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, was published in 2016. Organized around the lifespans of five of the most influential or representative individuals in racial thought across American history, the text spans centuries, offering an overview of the enduring and evolving forms of racist ideology in America.Kendi's book incorporates conversations in science, literature, visual and musical arts, politics, and media. A few of these conversations reach across the work to connect movements: discussions between segregationists, assimilationists, and antiracists; vacillations between polygenesis and monogenesis approaches to understanding race; and tropes of black masculinity and femininity all carry through myriad political movements and developments.A deep awareness of political events, court cases, and Congressional debates shapes Kendi's text. Rather than claiming racial progress or racial regress at any point in time, Kendi's approach works to address the multiple motions of different groups throughout history. For example, Kendi works to nuance the interrelation of racism, sexism, homophobia, and classism across American history in order to withhold explicit praise of one ideal figure.Key phrases, such as "uplift suasion" and the "black exhibit" carry through Kendi's text. These phrases help to contextualize and connect events across historical periods. Similarly, the prominent voices and characters of the text connect to one another (or diverge) ideologically; Kendi tracks these convergences and divergences...
