Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

Racism (and specifically anti-blackness) is not an accident of U.S. history; it was designed to be an integral part of our system. This book delves into the origins of these ideas and how they are insidiously entrenched in our society today. Venerated historian Ibram X. Kendi studies racism through the lives of five very different American intellectuals: preacher Cotton Mather, slave-raping President & philosopher Thomas Jefferson, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, historian and activist W.E.B. Du Bois, and iconic civil rights & anti-prison activist Angela Davis, and studies how their influential writings reinforced or challenged racial discrimination in the U.S. This timely book clearly outlines the impact of racial discrimination, in everything from education to health and wealth. It shows you how easily racist ideas are produced and internalized, but also gives you the tools to challenge them, and gives hope for a better future.

Winner of over a dozen awards, including the National Book Award for Nonfiction.