I’m old and haven’t been “hip” (?- lol)  for a long time so I had to really hunt to find out what the heck “AF”  (in the title) could mean but I think  I finally got it. It means “as fuck..” So read the title again and you’ll you’ll get it.  Herriot’s book is NOT going to be your standard dry high school history book. 

This review, if you can access it, is truly excellent: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/11/12/black-history-whitewashed-america/#

Black AF  History: The Unwhitewashed story of America 
By Michael Harriot 
2023 / 426 pages 
Read by author 15h 42m
Rating:  9.5 / creative Black American History 

The time frame starts with Portugal’s Henry the Navigator and extends to Donals Trump in office. The aspects that involve Blacks or affect Blacks (for better or worse) are obviously given priority. The focus is on things which are NOT in high school text books but are definitely related to that is there. If you’re not even familiar with this background Black AF might be a rough read. 

 
Imo, it’s *almost* the equivalent of Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States only its revelations are not so routinely grim – there are plenty of Black heroes and accomplishments in the stories which didn’t make it to our history books.  Also Black AF History includes excellent (as far as I can tell) source notes which my original Zinn didn’t have and for which he was criticized.  So this is NOT Zinin – it’s its own creatively written work of history.  And Herriot does not skimp on his opinions – if you can’t quite figure them out in the first 14 chapters you’ll catch them in the final two – lol 

As is often the case, I started out listening only,  but I had a feeling I’d get a lot more out of it if I had the Kindle version.. The narrator uses a slight Black vernacular with a Southern accent to emphasize and keep a certain focus on what the book is really about.  

I’m reminded of The Sellout by Paul Baily, a novel which won the Man Booker Prize back in 2015.  My on-site review of he Sellout says:  Mesmerizing and very funny I gave it chuckles and laugh-out-louds along with several nods to the serious reality of the unstated.” And that could also be absolutely true of Black AF History.  

The Sellout by Paul Beatty

And this is from the Introduction to Black AF History (p. 8-9)
“(T)he only difference between the Black AF version of history and the way America’s story is customarily recounted is that whiteness is not the center of the universe around which everything else revolves.”  Harriot says that’s because in his book America is just a parcel of land that was stolen and repurposed as a settler state using European logic and the laws of white supremacy. This book is about a strong-arm robbery. It is about family and friends trying to recover what was stolen  It is the testimony, and the verdict that a jury of our peers has never heard.”  

With all that said, it’s really quite funny in some places but painful and excruciatingly sad in others. At the same time I’m learning a lot of new stuff. The humor works to keep the narrative from becoming morose or accusatory or maybe just too long as well as to be UN-like your high school history books!) . It’s just some stories, incidents and people, which weren’t included in the formal history classes but they are certainly true and important and sourced in Herriot’s book.

I have to say also that it’s a pretty good spoof of a high school history text – at the end of each chapter there’s a section called “Unit Review” with “Three Little Questions” which are multiple choice (LOL) maybe an Activity and a very good “Supplement” or what I might call “going beyond the text.” –  LOL!  

There are “footnotes” indicated by asterisks throughout the text and those pop-up as usual in newer, quality Kindle books or you can see them all on special linked pages. 

Harriot’s Sources are in the 25-page “Endnotes” section which is basically just source information.  plus And they’re complete but without additional commentary as far as academic expectations go. The source notes are numbered within the text and lead to 

At the end of each chapter there are brief final sections which might consist of a Unit Review, a quiz or an activity plus a bit of supplemental material (Supplement) as though this were a high school text book. If it weren’t for the dark accuracy of the basic material this book could be a gentle spoof.   

And there are excellent line drawings at the beginning of many chapters. These look similar to the ones in my old history books – circa 1965? but they were old when I used them.  

There was only one place where I got a bit aggravated – that was in the next to last chapter where the whole point of the book is revealed – this book is an argument FOR reparations.  I have no particular problem with reparations at all but if the US were to do that 1. How much would it cost,  2. Would we be able to take care of climate change needs, basic universal income, basic defense needs, education needs (through college) and so on?