Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America

The history of racism in America, particularly concerning the Black experience, is deeply rooted in the country’s foundation. From the transatlantic slave trade to present-day systemic inequalities, the African American community has faced centuries of oppression and discrimination in America. Despite these huge obstacles, Black Americans responded and continue to respond with creativity and resilience, excelling in spite of institutional racism.

The roots of racism against Black people in America can be traced back to the institution of slavery. Beginning in the early 17th century, millions of Africans were forcibly taken from their homes and brought to the shores of North America. Slavery not only deprived individuals of their freedom but also served as the economic backbone of the burgeoning nation, with enslaved people subjected to cruelty and exploitation. Enslaved people fought back through a wide range of resistance techniques, such as slowing down and sabotaging work, running away and living in the wilderness with fellow escapees, and using vast information networks to inform and protect one another.

Even after the abolition of slavery following the Civil War and the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, which theoretically granted equal rights to all citizens, racism persisted in various forms. The era of Reconstruction in the late 1860s saw progress in civil rights for Black Americans, including the election of Black officials to political office. However, this progress was short-lived as the rise of Jim Crow laws in the late 19th and early 20th centuries ushered in a new era of segregation, disenfranchisement, and racial violence. Examples such as the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision, which legalized racial segregation under the doctrine of "separate but equal,” illustrate the deep-seated racism embedded in American society. While this is true, particularly in the South, Northern states still treated the free Black Americans as second-class citizens, sometimes even extraditing them back into slavery.

The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s marked a turning point in the fight against racism, with landmark achievements such as the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Housing discrimination, unequal access to education and employment opportunities, and disproportionate policing and incarceration of Black individuals still, however, contribute to the oppression of Black Americans today. The legacy of racism continues to shape the lived experiences of Black Americans, manifesting in persistent racial disparities in areas such as wealth, health outcomes, and criminal justice.