An African American and Latinx History of the United States

An African American and Latinx History of the United States is a interpretation of US history that builds on earlier generations of ethnic studies scholarship. An intersectional history of the shared struggle for human rights from 1776 to present, the book is an accessible narrative history arguing that Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa were integral to the development of democracy in the United States. From this grassroots perspective, ordinary people sought to build bridges of solidarity between the nations—not walls. Ortiz will discuss how the book is being integrated into college and high school social studies curricula seeking inclusiveness and historical accuracy. 

Ortiz traces this untold history from the struggle to end slavery to the creation of an international movement for emancipation. While racial segregation spread from coast to coast in the late nineteenth century, working class people built multiracial labor movements culminating in making of a New Deal in the 1930s. Generations later, internationalism thrived again as migrant laborers—Chicana/os, Afro-Cubanos, and immigrants from every continent on earth—organized the largest general strike in the history of the Americas on May 1, 2006.

Incisive and timely, An African American and Latinx History of the United States is a bottom-up history told from the viewpoint of African American and Latinx people and revealing the ways people addressed issues of racism and class inequality still plaguing the United States today.