Revelatory read.

A little dated since it only goes up to 1962, but it made me astonished how much was left out of history class.

Before and After The Mayflower

I have always wanted to read this Negro Classic. Mr. Bennett goes into great details on many of the historical events that are just skimmed in many history books. The history books talk about John Brown, Nat Turner and Denmark Brady's insurrections and maybe even mention the name of Toussaint L'Overture but Mr. Bennett goes into more details and mentions many more.
This book provides quite a Black History lesson and I highly recommend reading it.

WLM
SC

When I was working on my MA with the goal to teach history in the upper grades, I expressed my frustration to my professor. I asked where I could find the actual history of Africa. Everywhere I looked (in conventional sources, such as the university library and trade journals) it said, "See Europe". I didn't WANT to read about the colonizers. But of course, when conquerors succeed in occupying another land militarily and politically, the next thing to be done is to eradicate the culture as it exists, and to pretend there WAS no history before the conqueror arrived (aside, perhaps, from a brief reference to how bad it used to be).

Mr. Bennett gives voice to Black Americans, and to the cultures they brought with them. Through impeccable research, he has uncovered history and culture that was not readily available those many years ago. This book was published and available at almost the same time I finished my degree. I found it later when I had the luxury of being able to read what I wanted, rather than that which was assigned, and have used it to some degree in home schooling my son (though it is too difficult for most high school students). Highly readable and enormously enlightening.

I read sections of this book published in 1969. If only more people had read it then and are reading it now. There seemed to be hope in the 1960's. Just like the 1619 Project, most white Americans, and even black Americans, don't read these books or learn this history.

This book is a M U S T read for all! yes, it is a lil strong in its content but it all truth to how life was for a race of people whom is still classed as 2nd class! it has a real WOW factor to it but i really feel if read but our young sisters & brother today would clearly feel a lot better about themself than they do now!

I don't believe I haven't reviwed this book yet! Read it about 20+ years ago and Loved it!! It's basically a Black version of the history books we're given in school. My daughter's too young to read it now, but in another 10 years or so, she's definitely reading this gem.

dnf... based on 14months of research, for inclusion in an Ebony magazine series. I started with the audio, includes claims like "we think XYZ, though other scholars disagree". wtf is that?!? So I track down a paperback copy, ZERO footnotes...

I had to read this book, since I was named after the author.

This is a great resource of history. I have not read it cover to cover, but turn to it often.

great read on african american history. the history of africans in america is the history of america.

Learned some things I didn't know.