A Black Women's History of the United States

"This is a history of the United States told through the stories of Black women by two leading historians. Daina Berry and Kali Gross take the usual model of history conveyed through the stories of great men and turn it on its head. They’re looking at how Black women shaped and were shaped by the politics, the economics and the social dynamics of each era in American history. They illuminate issues and people that are often overlooked and demonstrate that Black women’s history is central to U.S. history. You can’t fully understand the history of the United States if you don’t understand where Black women have historically fit into United States law, economics, politics, culture, and social life. Sure. I do. I was considering recommending Frederick Douglass’s “ What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? ” speech. I’d been thinking about the speech so much in the context of Juneteenth, and the President’s decision to schedule a speech in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a site of a racial massacre, on Juneteenth; a speech he subsequently pushed to the next day. Juneteenth puts center stage the history of slavery and Black people’s presence in the United States, from the colonial Era through today in a way that other holidays don’t. Frederick Douglass echoes in my mind because he pointed out that the Fourth of July sidesteps the history of slavery and the history of a whole array of American people. My great hope is that Juneteenth will one day stand on an equal footing with the Fourth, as a day when we can engage in conversations about what freedom and citizenship truly mean. The Fourth of July is a day when we celebrate American independence, but Juneteenth seems like a more fitting day to celebrate American freedom."