Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You: Historical people
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Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
By Liane Hicks
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi is an expansive re-telling of the formative moments and people throughout the last 500 years that have either upheld or fought against racism in the United States.
Storyboard Description
Many influential historical figures are mentioned throughout the book, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You. In this activity, students can name some of the figures that they read about in the book, add a character that looks like them and briefly write about their occupation, accomplishments, and impact (whether positive or negative) on the history of racism in America.
Storyboard Text
- GOMES EANES DE ZURARA
- Years living and location:Born: 1410, PortugalDied: 1474, Lisbon, Portugal
- Occupation or Accomplishments:Writer who chronicled Portuguese colonization and enslavement of African people.
- Impact (positive or negative) on the history of racism in America:Falsely claimed that Africans were inferior to Europeans, an idea that would be used for centuries to justify the evil practice of slavery
- COTTON MATHER
- Years living and location:Born: 1663Died: 1728Boston, Massachusetts
- Occupation or Accomplishments:Minister and prolific author. Descendant of famous Puritan leaders John Cotton and Richard Mather, attended Harvard at 11 years old. Prominent Puritan preacher.
- Impact (positive or negative) on the history of racism in America:Helped instigate the Salem Witch Trials, which targeted women and Black and Indigenous people as "devilish threats". Helped pass racist laws.
- THOMAS JEFFERSON
- Years living and location:Born: 1743, Shadwell, VADied: 1826, Monticello, VA
- Occupation or Accomplishments:Founding Father, 3rd president of the United State, author of the Declaration of Independence.
- Impact: Contradictory to writing "all men are created equal" and denouncing slavery in his writings, Jefferson owned more than 600 slaves in his lifetime, profiting from their forced labor and human trafficking. Held the racist belief that peaceful coexistence between races not possible.
- PHILLIS WHEATLEY
- Years living and location:Born: 1753, West AfricaDied: 1784, Boston, MA
- Occupation or Accomplishments:First African American author of a book of poetry. Kidnapped as a child Africa, bought by the Wheatley family in Boston who unusually allowed her to pursue an education.
- Impact: Wheatley disproved the false theory held by racists and enslavers that Africans were intellectually inferior to white people. She was lauded in Great Britain who used her accomplishments to denounce America's system of slavery.
- SOJOURNER TRUTH
- Years living and location:Born: 1797, Rifton, NYDied: 1883, Battle Creek, MI
- Occupation or Accomplishments:Truth escaped slavery with her infant daughter in 1826 and became the first Black woman to win a case to free her son in 1828. She became a prominent abolitionist and women's rights activist.
- Impact: Truth fought for abolition, women's suffrage and equal rights for all which she emphasized in one of her most famous speeches called either "I am a Woman" or "Ain't I a Woman" given in 1851. She traveled the country advocating for human rights and even met with President Lincoln in 1864.
- NAT TURNER
- Years living and location:Born: 1800, Southampton, VA Died: 1831, Courtland, VA
- Occupation or Accomplishments:Turner was an enslaved African American preacher. He led a large 4-day rebellion of enslaved people fighting for freedom which resulted in the deaths of 55 people, mostly white enslavers and their families.
- Impact:The reaction was swift and harsh with Virginia executing Nat Turner and 56 enslaved people thought to be involved. Another 120 Black free and enslaved people were killed regardless of involvement. Virginia passed new laws outlawing assembly and education of enslaved people.
- WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON
- Years living and location:Born: 1805, Newburyport, MADied: 1879, New York, NY
- Occupation or Accomplishments:Prominent white American abolitionist, journalist and social reformer who founded the newspaper the Liberator, which advocated for the abolition of slavery.
- Impact:Founded the American Anti-Slavery Society and worked for most of his life to abolish slavery. Initially advocated for "gradual equality" but later adopted a more progressive and inclusive stance.
- ABRAHAM LINCOLN
- Years living and location:Born: 1809, Hodgenville, KY Died: 1865, Washington, DC
- Occupation or Accomplishments:Lawyer, statesman, 16th U.S. President from 1861 until his assassination in 1865 and led the nation through the Civil War.
- Impact:While Lincoln advocated for abolition and successfully led the Civil War that ended slavery, he held racist beliefs against full equality. Following the Civil War, formally enslaved people faced devastating levels of discrimination and violence.
- HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
- Years living and location:Born: 1811, Litchfield, CT Died: 1896, Harford, CT
- Occupation or Accomplishments:American writer, philanthropist, abolitionist and author of the novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin
- FREDERICK DOUGLASS
- Years living and location:Born: 1818, Maryland Died: 1895, Washington, D.C.
- Occupation or Accomplishments:African American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, statesman. Escaped enslavement to become a national leader in the abolitionist movement.
- BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
- Years living and location:Born: 1856, Westlake Corner, VA Died: 1915, Tuskegee, AL
- Occupation or Accomplishments:Freed from slavery after the Civil War at age 9, became a leading African American activist. Founded Tuskegee University in 1881. Educator, author, orator and advisor to presidents.
- IDA B. WELLS
- Years living and location:Born: 1862, Holly Springs, MSDied: 1931, Chicago, IL
- Occupation or Accomplishments:Investigative journalist, educator, civil rights activist. Fought against sexism, racism and white supremacist terrorism. At the founding of the NAACP
- W.E.B. DU BOIS
- Years living and location:Born: 1868, Great Barrington, MADied: 1963, Accra, Ghana
- Impact: Uncle Tom's Cabin contributed to growing anti-slavery sentiments leading to the Civil War. Critics posited that Uncle Tom's humanity and the reader's sympathy for his plight was tied to his Christian beliefs and subservient nature. They argue a person should not be seen as human only when they are religious and meek. "Uncle Tom" is now used as derogatory slang for a Black man who is excessively obedient to white people.
- MARCUS GARVEY
- Years living and location:Born: 1887, Jamaica Died: 1940, London, UK
- Impact:Inspired other enslaved people to escape. His autobiography inspired sympathetic white people to become abolitionists. Counseled Abraham Lincoln to admit African American soldiers in the civil war as well as for Lincoln to reverse his stance and endorse voting rights.
- LANGSTON HUGHES
- Impact:Advocated for African American assimilation into white society. Due to violent white terrorism in the Jim Crow era, began to hold segregationist beliefs for protection while continuing to advocate for equal justice, economic and educational opportunities.
- Years living and location:Born: 1902, Joplin, MO Died: 1967, New York, NY
- LYNDON B. JOHNSON
- Impact:As a journalist and writer, fought against racism and lynching by white supremacist terrorist. Spoke nationally and abroad about the horrors of lynching. Fought for women's suffrage founding the National Association of Colored Women's Club.
- Years living and location:Born: 1908 Died: 1973
- Occupation or Accomplishments:African American sociologist, socialist, historian, civil rights activist, author, co-founded the NAACP, pro Pan-Africanism. First African American to earn a PhD from Harvard.
- Impact:Intellectual, civil rights activist who supported assimilation and exceptionalism early on but later advocated for a more inclusive and antiracist approach focusing on Black Pride and the Harlem Renaissance.
- Occupation or Accomplishments:Jamaican activist, journalist, orator, publisher, entrepreneur. Founded the UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association) and African Communities League declaring himself Provisional President of Africa
- Impact:Sought to uplift African descendants worldwide and founded the UNIA which grew to 40 countries and 11 million members. Clashed with Du Bois and the NAACP advocating for repatriating African Americans to Africa. An inspiration for the Black Power movement.
- Impact:Called "poet of the people, for the people. Prolific, activist writer known for intimate, proud and vulnerable portrayals of African American experiences. "A Dream Deferred" ("Harlem") considered one of the most influential poems of the century.
- Occupation or Accomplishments:Leader of the Harlem Renaissance movement, poet, playwright, novelist, social activist, pioneered jazz poetry.
- Occupation or Accomplishments:Politician, Vice President (1961-1963), President after JFK's assassination (1963-1969). Signed the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Fair Housing Act
- Impact:Responding to Civil Rights movement, signed progressive reforms meant to combat racial discrimination and poverty. However, known as racist who regularly used racial slurs and worse in private.
- MALCOLM X
- Years living and location:Born: 1925, Omaha, NEDied: 1965, New York, NY
- Accomplishments: Parents were members of Garvey's UNIA. White supremacists burned their home, murdered his father and uncle and after a troubled childhood and jail, converted to Islam, became a minister and outspoken and prominent civil rights activist until his assassination.
- Impact:Inspired many like Angela Davis and Muhammad Ali and the Black Pride movement. Was at odds with MLK at times as X advocated for a more militant approach to end racial injustice famously saying "by any means necessary". Early was a segregationist but later turned towards more inclusive approach. Spoke in support of King in Selma in 1965.
- MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
- Years living and location:Born: 1929, Atlanta, GA Died: 1968, Memphis, TN
- Accomplishments: Considered the most prominent civil rights activist, preacher, writer, orator, organized strikes, boycotts, sitt-ins, marches that led to passing of the Civil Rights Act. Fought for racial and economic justice until assassination in 1968
- Impact: Influenced by Gandhi, believed "non-violent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom." Believed economic justice entwined with racial justice. Continues to inspire freedom-seeking people in America and around the world.
- AUDRE LORDE
- It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.
- Years living and location:Born: 1934, Harlem, NYDied: 1992, U.S. Virgin Islands
- Occupation or Accomplishments:Writer, poet, librarian, feminist, civil rights activist. Self proclaimed: "Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet."
- Impact:Dedicated her life to challenging racism, sexism, homophobia in her writing, speeches, poems that "urge women, Black women specifically, to break through their silence because it is the only way to break through to each other."
- MUHAMMAD ALI
- Years living and location:Born: 1942, Louisville, KY Died: 2016, Scottsdale, AZ
- Occupation or Accomplishments:Nicknamed: The Greatest, professional boxer and World Heavyweight Champion, Olympic gold medalist, civil rights activist, philanthropist and entertainer
- Impact:Lauded by the Black Power movement. Spoke against racial injustice. Converted to Islam, changing name from Cassius Clay which he called his "slave name" similar to Malcolm X. Protested the Vietnam War draft saying the war was unjust and why should he "drop bombs on Brown people in Vietnam. . . while [Blacks] in Louisville are . . .denied simple human rights.
- ANGELA DAVIS
- Years living and location:Born: 1944, Birmingham, AlCurrently lives in California
- Occupation or Accomplishments:Activist, philosopher, scholar, professor, author. Fought racism, sexism, heterosexism, economic oppression.
- Impact:Following the horrific Baptist Church Bombing in her native Birmingham, which Davis felt was sadly not unexpected as the white terrorist violence there was all too familiar, Davis rose to became a prominent leader in movements of civil rights, Black Power, feminism and prison reform.
- BARACK OBAMA
- Years living and location:Born: 1961,Honolulu, HI Currently lives in Washington, D.C.
- Occupation or Accomplishments:Lawyer, Illinois State Senator (1997-2004), First African American Illinois U.S. Senator (2005-2008), First African American U.S. President (2009-2017), 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, author, philanthropist.
- Impact:Broke down barriers as the first Black president but also faced racism throughout his campaign and presidency including the false notion that since an African American was finally president, the work to eradicate racism was done. Has inspired millions calling for action to create a more just and equitable society for all.
- MICHELLE OBAMA
- Years living and location: Born: 1964, Chicago, ILCurrently lives in Washington, DC
- Occupation or Accomplishments:Attorney, author, first African American U.S. First Lady (2009-2017). Platform included fighting poverty, promoting nutrition and education.
- Impact:Faced racist attacks as First Lady but always rose above the hatred, famously saying, "When they go low, we go high." Advocates anti-racism coupled with action, saying to graduates in Kansas in 2014: "When you encounter folks who...hold prejudices...who think they know all the answers because they've never heard any other viewpoints. It's up to you to help them to see things differently."
- ALICIA GARZA, OPAL TOMETI, and PATRISSE CULLORS
- BLACKLIVESMATTER
- Years living and location:Born: Garza: 1981, Los Angeles, CATometi: 1984, Phoenix, AZCullors: 1984: Los Angeles, CA
- Accomplishments: Co-founders of Black Lives Matter.Garza: Writer, activistTometi: Writer, activistCullors: Artist, activist
- Impact:Following the acquittal of the murderer of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in 2013, organized Black Lives Matter to protest miscarriages of justice, police brutality, violence against Black people. The movement is worldwide and inclusive and works to "end state-sanctioned violence, liberate Black people and end white supremacy forever."
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