Helping to Heal Race Relations in America
It’s time to talk about what Unpaid Labor is all about. A lot of people want to know. Is it about reparations? Is it about placing blame? Is it about a new program? Is it about labor in the United States? The answer is no! Is it important? Absolutely! And why? Because getting the history right will help heal race relations in America. Because the majority of Americans don’t know how vital African Americans have been to the birth, growth, and survival of our country. Because it’s the best chance we have to confront our past so that we can effectively deal with race relations today.
Unpaid Labor is our name for the “contribution” story of slaves and slavery. It is a new way to look at slavery’s history. It’s not new because it’s unknown. It’s new because it’s untold. The story that has always been told is the story of “victimhood”. Contribution is the story of what the slave did for the nation. Victimhood is the story of what the nation did to the slave. The victimhood point of view of history also refers to what slaves were able to achieve in spite of slavery. That view is known as agency. Agency is great as far as it goes but it doesn’t go far enough. It doesn’t say no Unpaid Labor no most successful nation in the world in modern history! But that’s what the history says!
We are working to get the contribution point of view out to the masses. When the contributions of black people are known black people will see themselves a lot more positively. The nation’s acknowledgement of the critical role that Unpaid Laborers played in the development of the United States will engender standing and respect for their descendants. The Untold Story of Unpaid Labor will allow the nation to look at our unpleasant history without shame and without guilt.
We want to Honor the first 12 generations of Americans who were brought here from Africa. We want to inform people about the impact of Blacks on America. We want to put the history out there so that it’s talked about whenever American history is talked about. We want what we are doing to bring Honor, Hope, Dignity, and Standing to African Americans. We want what we are doing to bring understanding to all Americans.
More than 25 prominent historians from all over the country agree with what we are saying. From sea to shining sea, from Washington and the Revolution and the Constitution to Lincoln and the Civil War and Emancipation, the thread of Unpaid Labor runs through every aspect of American history. Pull it out and the whole enterprise collapses. Now that’s important. Now that’s worth knowing. Now that’s worth talking about. When people understand the history it will change the way we think about our nation, our people and ourselves. Unpaid Labor changes everything!