Howard W. French

Born in Blackness

This book should be a must-read in every school’s history lesson. Columbia journalism professor Howard W. French explains the central role Africa had and continues to have in the creation of modernity and the rise of the Western world. In a structured and detailed manner, he analyzes historical events from the “discovery” of Africa and its ancient civilizations over the transatlantic slave trade to the present times, where we continue to profit from the rich natural resources that the continent has to offer. Not an easy read, but more than worth it!

“Events and activities that flowed from Afro-European encounters set the most Atlantic-oriented Europeans onto a path that would eventually propel their continent past the great civilizational centers of Asia and the Islamic world in both wealth and power. This ascension was not founded upon any innate or permanent European characteristics that produced superiority. To a degree that remains unrecognized, it was built on the foundation of Europe’s economic and political relations with Africa. The heart of the matter here, of course, was the massive, centuries-long transatlantic trade in slaves who were put to work by the millions growing sugar, tobacco, cotton, and other cash crops on the plantations of the New World.”