Our History Has Always Been Contraband
In Defense of Black Studies

White supremacy is a problem for all of us, not just Black people. But Black people are best positioned to critique it—and to defend the need for academic responses to it. As Florida and other US states decry “critical race theory” i schools, Our History Has Always Been Contraband: In Defense of Bla......more

I deliberately took my time with this Black history reader. One shouldn't just fly through or skim over more than 100 years of writings by people who lived the history, and stood up to challenge it. With essays by authors ranging from Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. DuBois to Angela Davis, this book lo......more

Short, dense, and powerful collection of writings put together in response to Ron DeSantis’ attempts to ban AP African American studies in public high schools. My one main critique is probably that some essays can run a bit short and I get the impression that they were cut down to maintain brevity w......more

I shouldn’t have taken so long to finish this book but I literally wanted to pour over and ponder every word. There were so many people that wrote essays in the book that made me want to learn about them more and new people that I need to do more research on. This book was written because Black Stud......more

The major upside of this book is its relevancy, as it was just published this year. The writers are speaking directly and indirectly, to the cancellation and erasure of Black history, culture, and studies in this country. A few of the essays are pretty theoretical, but everyone included here - from......more