F*** Your Racist History

Over the centuries, white supremacy has been marketed to American children through popular toys like "mammy" dolls and in cartoons with names like "Little Black Sambo." More recently, several of Dr. Seuss' children’s books have also been criticized as being insensitive by promoting racist stereotypes. Many rhymes and songs that we learned in our own childhoods, and that we may now teach our children or grandchildren, are also deeply rooted in racism. This not-so-subtle conditioning to white...

In the aftermath of the Mexican-American War, the anti-Latinx violence that continued to dominate Texas became state-sanctioned as it seeped into federal policies. During the early 20th century, Mexican citizens began to migrate into the United States to seek refuge from the Mexican Revolution's violence and turmoil. In response, the U.S. government sent Texas Rangers and soldiers to the border. Thousands of Mexican-Americans were lynched, burned alive, or brutally murdered by local...

On this episode of F*** Your Racist History: "White Homeland: Part 2," we discuss historical efforts by American white supremacists to create white ethno-states within the United States via racial separatist movements like the Northwest Territorial Imperative and Oregon's racist founding history and their state constitution from 1859, which both forbid slavery while also prohibiting Black people from inhabiting land in the territory. Finally, we explore the broader impacts of systemic racism...

In this episode of F*** Your Racist History, we explore three specific efforts by American white supremacists to create a white homeland abroad. In 1859, a physician turned orator named George Bickley spearheaded a paramilitary movement designed to aid the Southern states in the formation of a massive slave Republic consisting of 36 slave states and encompassing most of South America. He named it Knights of the Golden Circle, and the society was rumored to have nearly 60,000 members on the...

Since the days of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, American politics have been rife with conflict and division, and there has been a rotating cast of political machines taking and losing power. During the volatile political era of the 1840s and 1850s, a nativist group called the "Know-Nothings" briefly held power on the national stage, maintaining staunch anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic stances. Because most of their members were American descendants of Anglo-Saxon colonists, the...

Phineas Taylor (P. T.) Barnum is remembered by many as America's "Greatest Showman." An entertainer with enduring ingenuity who could literally make something out of nothing. A so-called friend to the friendless, someone who employed people with physical disabilities in his circus during a time in history when they might not otherwise have been given any other opportunity. A businessman who was endeared and admired for his use of predatory Capitalism; there wasn't a lie he wouldn't tell, a...

The fight for fair elections in the United States is as old as the country itself. From the Electoral College, to gerrymandering, to violent attacks on voting rights advocates, to dark money influencing campaigns, to new voter suppression laws introduced in 47 states in 2021, the concept of "one person, one vote" is still far from being realized. In this episode of F*** Your Racist History, we dig into the racist origins of U.S. elections and the ways politicians have spent centuries...

It is no secret that slavery rests at the foundation of American capitalism and is often synonymous with the sugar, tobacco, and/or cotton plantations that fueled the Southern economy. What many may not know is that slavery also rests at the foundation of many notable corporations. From New York Life to Bank of America, Brooks Brothers to Aetna, many companies have benefitted from slavery. Some of the companies even acknowledged their involvement in slavery and offered apologies in an...

We live in troubled times. After numerous killings of unarmed people of color by police over the past decade and beyond, the relationship between the public and law enforcement seems to be on the brink of exploding. On one side of the debate, activists claim a systemic racism problem. On the other, supporters of law enforcement claim these horrific acts of force are either necessary or the actions of a few "bad apples." In 1963, President John F. Kennedy declared the week of May 15th...

In 1919, Henry Ford took over a weekly journal called the Dearborn Independent, and within a year and a half, turned it into one of the most notorious anti-Semitic fake news rags in the United States. Ford's anti-Jewish campaign ran for 91 consecutive issues and became a 4-volume book titled The International Jew. Ford's texts and ideas inspired Adolf Hitler and his murderous Nazis in the years leading up to WW2 and they continue to be widely circulated among violent white supremacists...

At the heart of America is a dirty and shameful reality. Everyone knows it exists, but the devastating impact it has left on generations of people has been glossed over and even ignored—especially by those who still benefit from it. Our American history is rooted in racism. More obvious chapters include the decimation of Native American populations, slavery, segregation, and the Jim Crow era. Most Americans have learned about—or at least heard—of these events. But ask them about the...