whitewashed

A trade card with printed black type for the domestic slave traders Hill, Ware and Chrisp. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture Joshua D. Rothman, University of Alabama For my recently published book, “The Ledger and the Chain,” I visited more than 30 archives in over a dozen states, from Louisiana to Connecticut. Along the way, I uncovered mountains of material that exposed the depravity of the men who ran the largest domestic slave trading operation in American history and revealed the fortitude of the enslaved people they trafficked as merchandise. But I also learned that many Americans do not realize that a domestic slave trade existed in the U.S. at all. Mentioning my research to others repeatedly provoked questions about Africa, not...

Hanging on the wall in my office is the framed cover of the inaugural issue of The Brownies’ Book, a monthly periodical for Black youths created by W.E.B. Du Bois and other members of the NAACP in 1920. A newspaper boy hawks copies of the Chicago Defender. Library of Congress The magazine – the first of its kind – includes poems and stories that speak of Black achievement and history, while also showcasing children’s writing. Although much of American children’s literature published near the turn of the last century – and even today – filters childhood through the eyes of white children, The Brownies’ Book gave African American children a platform to explore their lives, interests and aspirations. And it reinforced what 20th-century American literature scholar Katharine Capshaw has descr...

Tag: whitewashed

Largely Whitewashed Out Of History – The Brutal Trade In Enslaved People Within The US

Shut Out From The Whitewashed World Of Children’s Literature – Black Kids Took Matters Into Their Own Hands