Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi: Review

While visiting Los Angeles last year, I got to spend some time at The Last Bookstore. While getting lost in the sheer magnitude of the store I happened to stop by a table with Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi on it. The book is massive. Honestly, it was a little bit intimidating. However, as I skimmed through the pages I knew that the book would be a powerful addition to my collection.

Once I got into the book, I was happy to realize that many of the things I learned in Undoing Racism at Child Advocates were referenced. For example, the experiences of Black people in the American colonies prior to widespread slavery in the south was not a topic I ever learned in school. In Undoing Racism I got some background, but Kendi is extremely thorough. Learning about the background of the English common law concerning legal status of children was painful in many respects. Mostly because in addition to teaching the background of this law, Kendi also shares the history of the partus doctrine in the colonies. The English common law states that the legal status of the child comes from the father. Partus Sequitur ventrum, abreviated partus, means that the legal status of the child comes from the mother. This doctrine permitted and encouraged the sexual abuse of African slaves to increase the slave population. The humanity of these women and their children was completely ignored. As a historian, Kendi explores difficult topics like these but also lends a necessary compassion to the text.

Kendi segues from the recent past to the present by highlighting the history and experiences of Angela Davis. I’m a huge fan of hers and actually got to see her speak a few years ago at the IUPUI Martin Luther King Jr. dinner. She is an engaging speaker and a champion for equity. Kendi seems to feel the same as he recounts Davis’ incarceration, her time with the communist party, and her unflinching commitment to improving the lives of the least of us. She exemplifies a true separation from racist ideas. Throughout Stamped from the Beginning, Kendi examines the differences between segregationists, assimilationists, and anti-racists. Angela Davis is the perfect example of an anti-racist. She doesn’t blame issues that Black people face on their behavior. She doesn’t subscribe to racist ideas while fighting for the rights that Black people deserve. And most importantly, she doesn’t subscribe to a hierarchy among Black people. That is a major feat in a society that values wealth, education, and beauty over humanity. We can all get caught up in feeling superior to those who look or act differently than we do. I loved the walk through Davis’ battles and triumphs.

This book is a must read in my opinion. It challenges your beliefs about Black people. That challenge occurs whether you identify as Black or not. It is a litmus test among your friends that can help you identify the true anti-racists from those who aren’t. I believe that I’ve come away from reading this book with a greater understanding about how racism works to support the image I have of myself and of those who look like me. From the book, I learned that there is hard work to be done in erasing those images.