An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz

An African American and Latinx History of the United States Reviews

• 
  Jordan

  Much like An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States, this book is part of the ReVisioning American History series. Having just finished the former, I was stoked to see the latter on Edelweiss available for download and review, and immediately snapped it up.
  
  This book covers the American Revolution through to present day, and covers everything from the juxtaposition of the American Revolution with the Haitian Revolution; the Civil War and Reconstruction; Jim Crow and Juan Crow laws; the New Deal and its aim at creating specifically a white middle class; and across the board, emancipatory internationalism.
  
  Emancipatory internationalism was a new term for me, and I'm kind of in love with it now. (I know I'm a bit late to the game on that one...) Essentially, my understanding is that this pairs internationalism (basically the opposite of insular nationalism, and the idea that we're all global citizens) with emancipation, and the belief that freedom is not possessed by any nation to give or take away from others.
  
  There were a number of larger takeaways, other than being truly schooled in aspects and viewpoints of history that were never covered in my public school education. It's truly a book (and a series, at least the ones I've read so far) that must be read to be truly appreciated. But here are the takeaways for me, in no particular order:
  
  -The true realization that our country was NEVER authentically predicated on the idea of success and equality for everyone. Intellectually, I understood the concept, but don't think that I have come quite so face-to-face with the reality until I started diving deeper into history books not written by white men. (This quote from the book really brings it home: "Inequality in American life today is not the result of abstract market forces, nor is it the consequence of the now-discredited 'culture of poverty' thesis. From the outset, inequality was enforced with the whip, the gun, and the United States Constitution.")
  The idea of American exceptionalism (like most ideas of exceptionalism) is a harmful lie. It's been harmful in the past, it continues to be harmful now. ("Make America Great Again" is a prime example.)
  -How much all of our movements owe to other movements across the globe. (This relates back to that whole emancipatory internationalism thing.)
  -It feels like we are nowhere. So many of the things that were included in this book are events that could have happened yesterday. And it's fucking exhausting to think about.
  -The system being stacked against African American and Latinx people of color, especially when it comes to socioeconomics, and specifically how that leads to continued disadvantage, is one of the most frustrating things, and a concept with which a lot of people have a hard time. Personally, my dad is one of them. I've tried to explain to him the concept behind reparations and the lack of inherited wealth, but for someone who came from a lower middle-class background, who didn't inherit actual money when his father died, explaining where that "inherited wealth" comes into his privilege is a frustrating endeavor for both of us.
  -Black women have always been the harbingers and drivers of justice movements. FOLLOW BLACK WOMEN. ELECT BLACK WOMEN. SUPPORT BLACK WOMEN.
  
  Definitely snag this book when it's released. It's important and relevant and vital.
• 
  Bookworm

  It's an important book that highlights the voices of those we don't hear about far too much. Author Ortiz takes the reader through what it says on the cover: from the Hatian Revolution to the international effects of the US Civil War, Ortiz gives us a history that is unfortunately silenced and perhaps lost in favor of another narrative.
  
  Honestly, I felt this wasn't quite what I thought it would be. While I was glad to read a history that took us out of the United States and placed history in a more international context I found the book difficult to read. It could be that I lacked familiarity with several of the events Ortiz describes. But there's another review by Publisher's Weekly that really hits it on the head: the book is clearly well-researched but also reads like a series of articles.
  
  I was surprised that the main text is only about 200 pages and about 20-25% of the book are notes, references, etc. Again, good for research and for looking up stuff but I felt like the book had to be lot thicker to place these events in context and feel less like a series of articles and more of a comprehensive picture. It might not be possible (or the author was constrained by the publisher) to get such a full history but unfortunately I just felt the book didn't quite accomplish what it was trying to do.
  
  Still, it probably makes for a good reference. I'd borrow it from the library before deciding if you really want to add it to your own library, though.
• 
  Andre

  Books like this are very important, for they shine a most valuable light on those corners of history that we tend to miss. And any time you look at history from the perspective of the oppressed and despised you are bound to come away with a new orientation. That orientation is explored here to great effect by Paul Ortiz who deftly demonstrates how African Americans were engaged in freedom struggles beyond their own.
  
  The former enslaved joined with Mexicans in their struggle to throw off the rule of Spain and were instrumental in Cuba’s independence. “The Cuban solidarity campaign launched by Black antislavery abolitionists in the heart of Reconstruction was one of the most remarkable social movements in American history. In placing the liberation of Cuba on the same platform with their desperate struggle for equal citizenship in the United States, African Americans from Key West to California created a new kind of freedom movement.” Mr. Ortiz has painstakingly researched this book, if the abundance of notes are any indication and readers will be duly enriched by engaging this text. What Paul Ortiz makes abundantly clear is the lie of American exceptionalism.
  
  “In a time of increasing diversity, it might be tempting to look beyond the black-white framework that structures race relations and social and economic opportunity. To the contrary, as other racial minorities grow, it becomes increasingly important to address the fundamental question of fairness for African Americans, which affects the fortunes of the other groups. The black-white economic and social divide created by slavery and cemented through years of servitude and subjugation has endured and helped shape America.”
  
  How is it possible to write, “all men are created equal” while simultaneously holding people in bondage? This book is a correction of sorts to the prevailing and popular history that is held in the collective consciousness of America, “historians shrouded the country’s history in a veil of innocence and exceptionalism, which has undermined the nation’s ability to reform itself to this day.” There are many lessons to avail oneself of, from the Haitian revolution to present day, where a look at the modern worker and the struggle for a fair and living wage takes center stage. The change of narrative will be helpful in changing the US and how it is perceived amongst its citizens. “If American exceptionalism is a harmful fable, then what do we replace it with? We can begin by continuing to learn more about ordinary people’s capacity to create democracy in action.” And he has done a great job of demonstrating that capacity in these pages. Thanks to Edelweiss and Beacon Press for a DRC. Book is on sale now.
• 
  Quinton Banks

  Really good synopsis of how Black and Brown people similarly struggle against racial capitalism. If you ever want a book that shows just how much organizing and unionizing has helped us, read this book. Comes with tons of citations for further reading too.
• 
  Grace

  3.5 rounded up
  
  Like the other books in this series, this book offers a somewhat broad overview of the intersections of African American and Latinx interests in the struggle against white supremacist capitalist systems within the Americans. I found this one to be a more dense read than some of the others, and it suffers from similar issues in trying to cover a lot of information in relatively little space, so some events are merely mentioned, some are more detailed, and transitions are a bit abrupt, but that's sort of the gig when trying to give an overview on such a vast subject. Interesting starting point, and lots of topics to explore further in more specific books.
• 
  Juli Anna

  Whew, this one was a trudge! Ortiz approaches United States history through the lens of emancipatory internationalism, pointing to the ways in which social justice movements were informed by revolutions and movements throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Most of this is history we aren't generally exposed to in school, and is inspiring and illuminating. However, I found much of Ortiz's writing fairly dull, and the granular way that he approaches his subject matter wasn't the best for me. He covers so many large and small movements, initiatives, and demonstrations in the minutiae of their individual leaders and press coverage, sometimes without even telling us whether or not they were successful. Overall, this was less of the survey than I expected, and more of a focused history, down to all the gritty details.
• 
  Brianna

  Five stars because this book got me thinking in all the best ways, starting with the Introduction. I went into it generally aware of the whitewashed American history we're given in school and media, but the author made me realize specific examples.
  
  Ortiz approaches the history and shared struggles of African American and Latinx people in the Americas with a labor organizing lens, which was (to me) unexpectedly helpful. The framing of enslaved persons as essentially some of the USA's first community organizers & strikers was eye-opening. I've also added the term "white business supremacy" to my vocabulary.
  
  I read a single chapter per day (sometimes going a week before picking up the next chapter) and this was a really good way for me to digest/reflect on each period of history covered.
• 
  Megan Oza

  At its core, America’s history is built on stolen land and fueled by an obsession with cheap labor all in the name of capitalism. Definitely worth reading!
• 
  Lance Eaton

  What if we reframed the history of the United States through social, cultural, and political lens of Latin America and African history. That is, most U.S. histories work from a European lens, invoking the influences, historical contexts, and politics of Europe in the making of the U.S. It's to be expected given how much U.S. history has been told in a way to appease white people at the cost of marginalizing and ignoring people of color. But Ortiz takes this approach and crafts a powerful narrative that draws upon a great many primary sources that show just how much things like the Haitian Revolution, the political landscape of Mexico, and the strives for freedom throughout Latin American and Africa were intertwined with the struggle for freedom in the US. He moves from the Revolution to the election of Trump to show the ways in which the struggle continues today and how Latinx and African Americans have been at the forefront of workers rights and protections, political fights for freedom, and engaging in the often violent response from white people throughout.
  
  There are moments throughout this book that are just so intriguing and open up an understanding of the struggle for freedom and equality by Latinx and African Americans that I have not found elsewhere. What left an indelible mark upon me was how Ortiz illustrated how conscious and aware such freedom fighters were of their work in the U.S. in relation to other struggles throughout the world and how scared white people were about these types of connections and coalitions. What I love about this book is that I could easily see it being used in a class wherein a supplemental reader compliments a mixture of the primary sources he calls upon with those that are traditionally used in such history courses. There's such an opportunity to draw out the tension between the two.
• 
  Meg Petersen

  I loved this book. The author reframes history, not from the point of view of one racial or ethnic group, as is so often done, but rather through exploring and exposing the connections between and among what are often framed as separate struggles. I found it inspiring and energizing.
  The author does assume a basic knowledge of history on the part of his readers, and departs from the idea of having us reenvision what we thought we knew. His work is well-documented and thorough. I highly recommend this book and would love to see curriculum developed based on his premise. I would have loved the opportunity to explore these connections further.
• 
  Ilana

  I love a nice fat notes section
• 
  Megan

  A very comprehensive collection of vignettes that cover gaps left by the traditional teaching of American history. Even as someone who struggled in history courses, this book was very approachable, and I was able to learn a lot. I do wish that this had also included history of indigenous peoples of America, as I think the author's thesis is incomplete without the history of the mistreatment of and subsequent movements by indigenous peoples (although that would've made for a much longer book). Overall this is a must-read.
• 
  Sarah

  I really appreciated this book for offering a more in-depth history regarding African Americans and Latinx populations. There were so many important historical events, sometimes it felt a bit crammed in there as the book moved from one to the next fairly quickly. I may need to look to other books for more details about specific events; nevertheless, this is a great overview.
• 
  Teresa

  I definitely think this is an important perspective in history (edit to add: and current times), and one I didn’t have much familiarity with. I learned a lot about the ties between Latinx and African American resistance. I also learned a different (more historically accurate) view of the Mexican-American War, labor movement, Haitian Revolution, and many other things. Some chapters were quick to read and engaging. Other chapters were more of a slog. Of all the ReVisioning History books, this one felt the most densely written to me. Definitely still worth reading, but it took me a while to get through.
• 
  Bri T

  "American exceptionalism, the idea that the United States is the freest nation on earth, the champion of the oppressed, and can do no wrong-- or at least never intends to do wrong--is a myth". There are many great aspects of this book, starting with this book sheds light on paramount events in history that are missed in the telling of the history of the Americas. There are many lessons in this book that I am grateful that Ortiz brought to light here, but I am most impressed by the powerful narrative Ortiz creates from so many different sources to show how Black, Latinx, and Indigenous voices are intertwined in the struggle for justice in the US. I especially enjoyed Ortiz's take on racial capitalism and how the US economy developed at the price of basic human rights, which took away the development of the individual and the inherent tendency of freedom.
• 
  Ciarra

  There is a ton of super powerful and insightful information in this book…but it was very hard for me to read. I would have loved to read this in a class because I think it would have been easier for me to process and digest because there is a massive amount of information packed in just under 200 pages.
• 
  April

  I was never terribly good at history because it always seemed to have a strange emphasis on things I didn’t care to learn about, but this is a fantastic historical lesson on things that I should have learned about.
• 
  Edward Rathke

  This book does what you want it to do and it remains entirely intersectional, which is important when talking about class struggle.
  
  And this book is specifically about class struggle from the perspectives of black and latinx americans. Ortiz lays a lot of groundwork for the reader to understand how black and latinx class struggle has always been international in scope. So a decent chunk of the book deals with labor movements and emancipatory struggles across latin america, demonstrating how those informed and influenced abolition and labor in the US.
  
  It has a very optimistic perspective on all this, which is...fine. It's good. But, at the same time, I find the optimism less convincing. Though that may just be how I'm feeling right now. It's clear that labor is a rising tide right now, which may be transformative for the US.
  
  But, yeah, this falls well in line with the other _______ History of the US books. It helps round out Zinn's original book, especially, since, as he admits, he missed a lot of black history and how instrumental they were to the labor movement.
• 
  Christopher

  America has a long history of promoting democracy and human rights, but also denying those basic rights to African-Americans and Latinx people. While there are a lot of histories that look at the history of both African-Americans and Latinx people as oppressed groups, nearly all of them treat each group separately. While there is great value in doing so, it does leave out the ways in which both groups supported each other’s fight for freedom and democratic rights and also implicitly perpetuates the false narrative that these two groups’ struggles are distinct from each other. In this incredible examination of American history from the point of view of both groups, Dr. Ortiz links both of their struggles for freedom and shows how America has too often been on the wrong side of history and freedom not just in America, but in its dealings with the Americas too.
  
  For my full review, check out my book blog
  here.
• 
  Joe Colley

  To say that this book includes what most US history books have “left out” would almost be an injustice to the content presented. Not only does the typical American education ignore Black and Latinx agency since the very foundation of the country, it is also complicit in diminishing and hiding it as well. Ortiz does a tremendous job in bringing to light the vast contributions and leadership through an impressive amount of historical sources that made me so much more aware of the level of the historical connectivity of Black and Latinx people not only in the US but in the Western Hemisphere in the fight against oppression. This book is dense and it is difficult to process the information quickly, but it is definitely worth the read.
• 
  Meg

  - an incredible overview of the entire history of the US through the lens of African American and Latinx voices! It incorporates a lot of analysis with quotes from varied groups to drive the points home.
  - I haven't taken a serious history class since high
  school, and this book was great challenge-not too in
  depth to be overwhelming, but not too simple to be
  boring.
  - it really helped me understand the roots of so
  many struggles today. This book focuses on showing how
  the US has let imperialism, poverty, and racism work
  together to benefit the most wealthy and powerful
  in ways I'd never seen before.
• 
  Donna Bijas

  “African Americans and Latinx people were forcibly brought or recruited to the United States to toil and do work that others would not do. Their labor built this nation, but they were not fairly compensated for their work. Instead, they were starved, tortured, traumatized, and murdered for attempting to exercise their rights that others took for granted.” A history lesson on the real United States that you won’t find in our history books. Not an easy read with massive amounts of statistics. Reads like a history book should though, telling all sides of the birth of our nation and the abuse suffered by non-white people. Well worth reading.
• 
  Adriel

  An intersectional history of the shared struggle for African American and Latinx Civil Rights. This book spans more than 200 years that places African Americans, Latinx and Indigenous voices at the center of working class organizing efforts against imperialism and capitalism. It's relatively short and introduces interesting topics that could be books in themselves. It is an very interesting exploration of African American and Latinx peoples and how their respective diasporas address the issues plaguing the US. Definitely recommend.
• 
  Sadie McLaughlin

  This book was extremely useful informative and easy to read! The author did a great job of packing in a lot of information in a clear and concise way. I learned a lot from this book and loved learning about events from a different perspective than the white-washed traditional view I was taught in school.
• 
  Katherine Congleton

  3.5. This isn’t the history book I was expecting. Rather than diving into the details of historical events, Ortiz assumes the reader already understands the basics of “what happened” and instead focuses on “why it matters.” (I found myself having to Google a historic event I’d never heard of every few pages.) Great insights, incredible analysis, but too much assumed prior knowledge required.
• 
  Neeyati

  4.5*
• 
  Abbey

  I am learning so much from this series and cannot recommend it enough!!