GEOFF BENNETT: This month marks 100 years since## Americans first celebrated what would# eventually become Black History Month.

On our video podcast, "Settle In," we# marked the centennial with award-winning## journalist and writer Michael Harriot.

We# talked about the ongoing fight over how## history is taught and his bestselling book# "Black AF History," which argues that Black## history isn't a counternarrative to the# American story, but the narrative itself.

Here's part of that conversation.

There's so much reverence around America's# founding story, and your take on Jamestown## stands out because it was so irreverent and# biting and you portray the English settlers## not as these heroic figures, but as these sort# of bumbling founders.

Tell me more about that.

MICHAEL HARRIOT, Author, "Black AF History: The# Un-Whitewashed Story of America": Yes, well, first## of all, like, of the 109 people who came here,# .. other.

They starved to death because they ate all# their provisions.

They didn't know how to plan.

They thought they could, like, climb in the# tree and see the Pacific Ocean.

Remember,## these were investors.

People came# here to make money.

They weren't## people who explored other nations.

And they# perished because of their incompetence.

And that reframing objectively, right, instead# of a mythology of these rugged individualists who## came here looking for freedom, we know that that's# not what they came here for.

And to tell that## truth, not just through the eyes of Black people,# but through an objective lens, is important.

GEOFF BENNETT: And then there's what transpired# in 1619, which gets a lot of attention now## because of the book.

But you look at this not# as a symbolic moment, but as a structural one,## the point at which the American colonies# became viable because of slave labor.

MICHAEL HARRIOT: And even the term# slave labor insinuates that it was## like the muscles and the brawn and the# hard work of those enslaved people.

But it is important to understand the# intellectual capacities of these people,## the intellectual know-how, the skills that# they brought to this country really kind## of made America a viable proposition# for the investors in Europe, right?

They didn't have an edible cash crop# until the enslaved people in South## Carolina started growing rice, and that# rice-growing culture, through language,## through the ability to eat and through the# average life expectancy that created this country,## and not this idea of like white people came here# and worked hard and made this country what it was.

GEOFF BENNETT: How do you respond to# people who might suggest that your take## on this is in some way controversial# or in some way revisionist history?

MICHAEL HARRIOT: Well, so, if I'm being honest,# I fortunately haven't kind of encountered that,## because no one has ever argued about the# contents of the actual history in this book.

The only argument against it is, well, why do# you have to bring up that version of history?## Don't you think that is divisive?

And I always# wonder, what part of the truth is divisive, right?## What part of recognizing everyone's humanity and# telling everyone's side of the story is divisive?

For most Black children in America, we have been# educated to revere men who are white supremacists.## We have been educated to respect men who saw us# as less than human.

And to tell those children,## to give those children a story about# their past that shows their humanity,## that shows that they are worthy of respect, that# shows that their parents and their grandparents## and their great-grandparents did great things and# contributed to this country is important to me.

And I don't think it's divisive.

And# I think that we can respect all of it,## right?

There's never been one side arguing that# we shouldn't revere Thomas Jefferson or think## that he is a founding father.

We are saying that# you should contextualize everything that he did.

And if you choose to respect the# documents and the stuff that he wrote,## rather than the stuff that he# did, that is perfectly fine.## But don't hide the stuff that he did and say the# stuff that he wrote is all that we should know.

GEOFF BENNETT: If there's a chapter in# this book that you could lift out and have## included in every history book in this country# that schoolkids are given, what would it be?

MICHAEL HARRIOT: Oh, that's a great question.

I think the chapter on Reconstruction and the# idea that it was the Black American revolution,## right?

And what I did is kind of mirror the# ideas of the American Revolution and saying,## like, this was Black people's chance.# There were founding fathers.

There was## a Constitution with ideals.

I think that's one.

And then there's an excerpt on the Stono# Rebellion, which kind of is the genesis## of the treatment of Black people, formed# our slave laws, formed the slave codes,## it formed the Black Codes after 1865.

And# it reached into Reconstruction and until## the civil rights movement.

I think that's# one of the things that we should understand.

GEOFF BENNETT: You can watch# that full episode of "Settle## In" and others on our YouTube page# or wherever you get your podcasts.