J.A. Rogers is probably the greatest autodidact in the history of the world!  Not only was Rogers self-taught, but he was also self-financed and self-published.  Talk about self-determination and controlling the narrative!

I would recommend any book by Rogers.  Among my first recommendations this Black History Month was his From Superman to Man, a short polemic challenging most of the sacrilegious cows of white supremacy.

This book recommendation, Africa’s Gift to America: The Afro-American in the Making and Saving of the United States, is a testament to what W.E. B. DuBois wrote about, that is, the “gifts” Africans and their descendants in America gifted to America: the gift of story and song; the gift of sweat and brawn; and the gift of the spirit.

Gift this book to both young and old this Black History Month.  In fact, if you are looking to start or supplement your library, stock it with all of J.A. Rogers’ books.

As I’ve written elsewhere and will continue to write and proclaim to my last breath: Black History is American history.  In fact, there is no American history without Black History.

Finally, a note to detractors: Almost anyone who emigrates to the United States should wrap their minds around some fundamental lessons of Black History.  Black folk state that we “make a way out of no way” – well, Black folk made it easier for almost everyone else who comes to these here United States, having borne “the whips and scorns of time,” and having challenged America to live up to her lofty ideals.