Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War
By Howard W. French
In a sweeping narrative spanning more than six centuries, Born in Blackness vitally reframes the story of medieval and emerging Africa, demonstrating how the economic ascendancy of Europe, the anchoring of democracy in the West, and the fulfillment of so-called Enlightenment ideals all grew out of Europe’s dehumanizing engagement with the “dark” continent. In fact, French argues, the first impetus for the Age of Discovery was not—as we are so often told, even today—Europe’s yearning for ties with Asia, but rather its centuries-old desire to forge a trade in gold with legendarily rich Black societies in the heart of West Africa.
“This book is filled with countless eyeopeners… All history is, by definition, revisionist. In connecting the various dots, French is inviting us to reconsider what we understand about how we got here.... Painful and necessary… [an] infuriating and hugely enlightening book.”
— Dele Olojede - Financial Times
Howard W. French is a professor of journalism at Columbia University and a former New York Times bureau chief for the Caribbean and Central America, West and Central Africa, Tokyo and Shanghai. The author of five books, he lives in New York City.
Join us each month to discuss a pre-selected book presenting a foreign policy topic. First Wednesday of each month (12pm).
We are proud to partner with the Loudoun County Public Library who makes available multiple copies of this book for checkout at the Rust Library.