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So happy to share something special we've been working on @TheAtlantic : "Inheritance," a project about Black life, history, and so much more.
We'll focus on the stories of Black America that have been left out of this country's creation myth. https://www.theatlantic.com/inheritance/
We'll focus on the stories of Black America that have been left out of this country's creation myth. https://www.theatlantic.com/inheritance/
This project has been in the works for some time and has been a labor of love, so I hope you'll indulge me in a super quick thread
We may be starting during BHM but this work will continue in the long term. Chapter I, The Stories We Tell Ourselves, starts today and will feature stories from @ClintSmithIII @AnnaDeavereS @jemelehill @CynthiaGreenlee @Dalai_Mama_ and more
You can read more about the goals and origins of this project in this month's editor's note from @JeffreyGoldberg, but in short the idea is to do our part to return the narratives of Black America to their rightful place https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/03/the-atlantic-and-black-history/617784/
Lots of Black folks have always know that the history you learn in school is incomplete. We've never had the option of ignorance. So we were taught the more complex and robust story from family, in our communities, and by seeking it out in academia and beyond.
As we made this, I thought a lot about all the history keepers in Black families. I've lost both of mine, my Uncle Glenn who passed away a few years back, and my Aunt Irma, who died of COVID-19 last April. I know so much family knowledge died with them, and it's devastating.
During development we were also reporting on the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and I was pregnant with my first child. I thought a lot about the history that my kid, my niece & nephew, and all Black kids would be handed—I hope we can help make it a more honest one.
Anyway, I hope you'll read this, and future chapters of Inheritance. I hope Black people will see themselves & their history here. I hope one day, the idea of centering Black people in the story of America won't feel quite so radical. https://www.theatlantic.com/inheritance/
