To date, history remains largely white history. Black people, as a race, are virtually non-existent when historical events are described in textbooks, movies and centennial celebrations. Their role in America is most often that of cotton pickers, marchers or rioters. Black History Month narrowly limits contributions of Blacks to a familiar list to 10 to 15 individuals when, in fact, Blacks, though enslaved and powerless, had a profound and indelible influence on the American socioeconomic system. Black labor was the engine that drove this nation and civilization around the world. Slavery and its legacies shaped and continue to reveal this nation’s cultural, moral and ethical hypocrisy. The products of Black’s labor created industrial revolutions in Britain and America. They produced social tensions that led to the Revolutionary War, Civil War, Reconstruction and a national civil rights movement.
Much information about race remains lost or buried in laws, bills of sales, newspaper reports, letters, economic analysis, and personal diaries. The purpose of this book is to unearth and expose some of the Dirty Little Secrets hidden in the darkness of history.
For example, did you know that:
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- Even without the benefit of a formal education, newly freed Black slaves filed for and were awarded more than 300 invention patents between 1870 and 1900?
- A number of high-level elected officials, including Presidents, Vice Presidents and members of the U.S. Senate had “Black blood” and Black mistresses?
These are but a few of many little-known, Dirty Little Secrets About Black History, Its Heroes and Other Troublemakers.