In 1619 Nobody was "White"

This book began with a study of prison labor in the United States, then the transportation of British prisoners for sale in early colonial America. That led me to Lerone Bennett Jr.'s groundbreaking "Before The Mayflower: A History of Black America." Bennett, named senior editor of Ebony magazine in 1958, and executive editor in 1987, first clued me in to the "equality of oppression" that characterized early middle Atlantic British North America. People didn't call themselves "white" or "black." They didn't think in those terms. The overwhelming majority were servants. From this beginning, the racial paradigms and plantation slavery we more commonly think of developed, over time, through many shifting decades. I would prefer that every American citizen read Bennett's book from beginning to end. I would prefer that every American had read all the other books I have relied on, including Rhys Isaac's "The Transformation of Virgina: 1740-1790," or Innes and Breene's "Myne Owne Ground: African American Land Ownership on Virginia's Eastern Shore." But most people don't have the time, or sometimes even the interest. So perhaps this modest work could be considered the reader's digest of early American history. This book is a good starting point to weave the work of many specialists into a comprehensive overview that updates the scope of our nation's early history. For those who want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, this is an easy read that packs in the good, the bad and the ugly, in all its shining glory and sheer horror. But mostly, its a story of people stumbling around in the dark, looking out for themselves, trying to find their way to anything better than what is right in front of their nose. It is a patriotic account, that finds cause for real pride in the United States of America, but a patriotism that takes our history as it really was, warts and all. Its not always a pretty picture. Lofty ideals and ringing phrases have often been motivated by venal self-interest, but, somehow those ringing phrases have provided the foundation for every struggle to make liberty and "government of the people, by the people, for the people" a bit more real. I hope the spirit comes close to Langston Hughes's "Let America Be America Again" and Paul Robesobn's rendition of "Song for Americans." Without July 4, there would have been no Juneteenth. Each is an inseparable step in the same line of development. This book is not a polemic. Its a presentation of facts. Most of these facts are not commonly recognized, but badly needed if we Americans are going to understand who we are, what our nation is, where we came from, where we have any hope of going to. Putting these facts on the table will deconstruct many cherished myths, and a lot of paradigms and identities. But it is the truth, not the cherished myths, that will make us free.

Dettagli