I’ve spent the last few weeks staring at old maps. The coffee in my mug has gone cold more times than I can count. My back is sore from leaning into the screen, but the work is finished. Black History They Didn’t Teach You is ready for the world. It arrives in paperback and ebook on April 18th.
This isn’t a collection of dry dates. It is a record of how things were built and how they were broken. I wanted to show you the brick and mortar of it all. You can smell the hot asphalt of the Durham Freeway cutting through the heart of Hayti. You can hear the scratch of a pen on a predatory record contract in a room that smells like cheap gin. We look at the Green Book as a survival manual. We see the 1956 Interstate Highway Act as a wrecking ball. These stories were meant to stay buried under the roads we drive on every day.
I’m feeling a little nervous about putting this out there. The truth is heavy. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. But the stories are verified. Mark your calendars for April 18th. We’re opening the files. It feels strange to finally be done, like I’m exhaling after holding my breath for months. I might go buy a fancy bottle of water just to celebrate something that isn’t research. It is time to let the record speak for itself.
