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No One Thinks Of Mexico And Peru As Black. But Mexico And Peru Together Got 700,000 Africans In The Slave Trade. The Coast Of Acapulco Was A Black City In The 1870s. And The Veracruz Coast On The Gulf Of Mexico And The Costa Chica, South Of Acapulco Are Traditional Black Lands.

The More You Learn About Yourself And Your Family Tree, Your Self-esteem Goes Up. They Will Learn Archival Skills, Historical Analysis And Science Skills. You Learn All This In The Most Seductive Way, And That Is Through Learning About Yourself. Who Doesn't Like Talking About Themselves? It Doesn't Seem Like Science Or History, It's Just Fun.

The Biggest Surprise For Me, Without A Doubt, Was That The First Black People Who Came To The United States Weren't The 20 Who Arrived In Jamestown In 1619. All Of Us Had Been Taught That. The First African Came To Florida In 1513. And The Huge Shock Is We Know His Name, Juan Garrido, And That He Wasn't A Slave. He Was Free!

In 1957, When I Was In Second Grade, Black Children Integrated Central High School In Little Rock, Arkansas. We Watched It On Tv. All Of Us Watched It. I Don't Mean Mama And Daddy And Rocky. I Mean All The Colored People In America Watched It, Together, With One Set Of Eyes.

My Mom, God Rest Her Soul - She Liked Nicknames. In The Womb She Named Me Skip. There Was Another Black Guy In Piedmont, W.va., And His Name Was Skip. They Called Him Big Skip, And I Was Little Skip.