Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America

The Gullah Geechee is the name for the enslaved Africans captured and forced to work in the Carolinas. Because of the inhospitable environment, white enslavers stayed away, which allowed the disparate Africans to form an independent culture and language. The farming and cattle-herding skills of the Gullah Geechee directly led to the Carolinas becoming a formidable economic power.

Drapetomania is a pseudo-psychological “mental disorder” attributed to enslaved people attempting to escape their captors. This designation served to pathologize the natural human desire for self-determination and further cement the idea that Black people were less than human. “Treatment” for drapetomania ranged from dietary changes to violent punishment.

Reconstruction is the common term for the period after the Civil War in which Black people, formerly enslaved, enjoyed a brief period of legal citizenship. During this period, Black people voted themselves into public office, acquired land, saved money, negotiated for wages, and started institutions to help educate the next generation of Black folk. Although a racist backlash that led to Jim Crow erased the right to vote and reinstated exploitative legislation, the advances made in Reconstruction led to enduring Black institutions that continue to support the community.