Stamped from the Beginning

Books | History / African American & Black

4.5

(743)

Ibram X. Kendi

The National Book Award winning history of how racist ideas were created, spread, and deeply rooted in American society. Some Americans insist that we're living in a post-racial society. But racist thought is not just alive and well in America -- it is more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues, racist ideas have a long and lingering history, one in which nearly every great American thinker is complicit. In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti-black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. He uses the life stories of five major American intellectuals to drive this history: Puritan minister Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. Du Bois, and legendary activist Angela Davis. As Kendi shows, racist ideas did not arise from ignorance or hatred. They were created to justify and rationalize deeply entrenched discriminatory policies and the nation's racial inequities. In shedding light on this history, Stamped from the Beginning offers us the tools we need to expose racist thinking. In the process, he gives us reason to hope.

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More Details:

Author

Ibram X. Kendi

Pages

592

Publisher

PublicAffairs

Published Date

2016-04-12

ISBN

1568584644 9781568584645

Ratings

Google: 5

Community ReviewsSee all

"#blackhistorymonth #africanamericanhistory #ushistory This book should be mandatory reading in high schools across the country as it explains the origins of racism in the US."

L G

Lorisa G

"I liked this way better than How to be an Anti-racist by the same author. This laid the issues out for me in a way more consumable and understandable way and the history of the different movements and how they diverged and came back together over time. Brilliant."

Rebecca McIntosh

"Excellent, accessible, and very informative! #mustread "

N C

Nikki Cureton

"If you want a background on the history of racism in the US this is the book for you!"

Hannah Payne

"I have read many books that have discussed racism in the United States, but this one is probably the most in-depth coverage of the history of racism in the USA. Ibram X Kendi took a different approach when writing this narrative. He broke the information down into parts based on people who have had an impact on the race culture throughout American history. Kendi opened my eyes to racial beliefs I had never heard of. And he did a great job connecting it all together to show what actions impacted certain events. It was a great way to tell the timeline of racial issues. If you are on an anti-racist journey, I highly recommend giving this a read. "