Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America& 1619-2019

EAN: 9780593449349
Author(s): Kendi, Ibram X (Author) , Blain, Keisha N (Author)
Publisher: One World Press
Publication Date: 02/01/2022
Page Count:528
List Price: $20.99
Binding: Paperback

The story begins in 1619?a year before the Mayflower?when the White Lion disgorges ?some 20-and-odd Negroes? onto the shores of Virginia& inaugurating the African presence in what would become the United States. It takes us to the present& when African Americans& descendants of those on the White Lion and a thousand other routes to this country& continue a journey defined by inhuman oppression& visionary struggles& stunning achievements& and millions of ordinary lives passing through extraordinary history. Four Hundred Souls is a unique one-volume ?community? history of African Americans. The editors& Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain& have assembled ninety brilliant writers& each of whom takes on a five-year period of that four-hundred-year span. The writers explore their periods through a variety of techniques: historical essays& short stories& personal vignettes& and fiery polemics. They approach history from various perspectives: through the eyes of towering historical icons or the untold stories of ordinary people; through places& laws& and objects. While themes of resistance and struggle& of hope and reinvention& course through the book& this collection of diverse pieces from ninety different minds& reflecting ninety different perspectives& fundamentally deconstructs the idea that Africans in America are a monolith?instead it unlocks the startling range of experiences and ideas that have always existed within the community of Blackness. This is a history that illuminates our past and gives us new ways of thinking about our future& written by the most vital and essential voices of our present.