"The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. Racist ideas are woven into the fabric of this country, and the first step to building an antiracist America is acknowledging America's racist past and present. This book takes you on that journey, showing how racist ideas started and were spread, and how they can be discredited"--Dust jacket flap.

"An examination of American slavery through the true stories of five enslaved people who were considered the property of some of our best-known presidents"--

"46.8 million Americans identify as Black and make up 14 percent of the population. Fourteen percent might seem like a relatively small portion of Americans in general. But as the centuries of struggle by Black Americans--first to escape slavery and then to try to achieve true equality in its ugly wake--neatly parallels the story of American democracy itself"--