There Are Just So Many Stories That

The Biggest Surprise For Me, Without A Doubt, Was That The First Black People Who Came To The United States Weren't The 20 Who Arrived In Jamestown In 1619. All Of Us Had Been Taught That. Well, Guess What? The First African Came To Florida In 1513. And The Huge Shock Is We Know His Name, Juan Garrido, And That He Wasn't A Slave. He Was Free! This Brother Was A Conquistador Who Came With Ponce De Leon. He Was Looking For The Fountain Of Youth Just Like The White People Were.

The Sad Truth Is That Without Complex Business Partnerships Between African Elites And European Traders And Commercial Agents, The Slave Trade To The New World Would Have Been Impossible, At Least On The Scale It Occurred.

You Have To Have A Canon So The Next Generation Can Come Along And Explode It.

So Many People Of Color Who Made Major Contributions To American History Have Been Trapped In The Purgatory Of History.

The Act Of Writing For The Slave Constituted The Act Of Creating A Public, Historical Self, Not Only The Self Of The Individual Author But Also The Self, As It Were, Of The Race.