Official histories of the United States have ignored the fact that 25 percent of all U.S. presidents were slaveholders, and that black people were held in bondage in the White House itself. And while the nation was born under the banner of “freedom and justice for all,” many colonists risked rebelling against England in order to protect their lucrative slave business from the growing threat of British abolitionism. These historical facts, commonly excluded from schoolbooks and popular versions of American history, have profoundly shaped the course of race relations in the United States.
While pundits and politicos were vilifying Shirley Sherrod for an act of discrimination that didn’t occur, Senate Republicans cut the payments for thousands of official acts of actual discrimination against African-American farmers.
IPS’ Emira Woods will be a featured panelist for the Diasporan African Women’s Network (DAWN) career panel. The event is meant to develop and support talented women and girls of the African diaspora focused on African affairs.
