DFPL Community Read: Black AF History 9-12

In 2024, the library partnered with Philipstown Aging at Home to host The 1619 Project Book Club. This group reconvened to read and discuss James by Percival Everrett in February of 2025, James Baldwin’s Go Tell it on the Mountain in June of 2025, and Between The World And Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates in September 2025. We’re kicking off the new year with a new read, and over the course of several weeks, we’ll be reading  Black AF History: The Unwhitewashed Story of America by Michael Harriot.

We will be reading this book in sections and meeting on the following dates:
3/9 at 2PM Chapters 9-12
3/30 at 2PM Chapters 13-16

Copies of the book will be available at the desk. Please register in advance.

About the Book
From beloved columnist Michael Harriot comes a comprehensive and bitingly hilarious appraisal of American history, in which the dominant narrative is directly confronted and corrected to showcase the perspectives and experiences of Black Americans. It should come as no surprise that the dominant narrative of American history is blighted with errors and oversights-after all, history books were written with the perspective of white men at the forefront. It could even be said that the historical devaluation and elimination of the experiences of Black people is as American as apple pie. Or rioting after football games. Or calling the cops on Black Americans for walking around their own neighborhoods, or listening to music, or bird-watching, or any other normal everyday activity. In “Black AF History”, Michael Harriot challenges this narrative, presenting more than thirty little-known stories about the experiences of Black Americans, from the Tulsa Race Massacre to the history of policing. With sharp, incisive wit, Harriot speaks hilarious truth to oppressive power, providing readers with a singular look at our shared history that is as comprehensive as it is utterly necessary.