The Hidden History Every Black American Needs to Read

(AURN News) – From Phyllis Wheatley to today’s journalists, filmmakers, broadcasters and podcasters, a new book argues that Black media makers have been among the most important voices shaping the American story.

In “A Second Sight: How the Wonder and Vision of Black Mediamakers Push America Toward Freedom,” University of Pennsylvania professor Sarah J. Jackson examines how generations of Black storytellers have challenged America to live up to its ideals while documenting some of the nation’s most defining moments.

“The stories we tell about our nation, about ourselves in the public sphere, are either democratic or anti-democratic,” Jackson said during an interview with AURN News. “They either help us rise to our best or they don’t.”

The book traces the influence of Black media makers across more than two centuries and argues that their contributions have often been overlooked despite helping shape public understanding of democracy, race, equality and freedom.

Jackson said one of the most surprising discoveries during her research was realizing how many of today’s battles over censorship, representation and media power have played out repeatedly throughout American history.

“We have been here before over and over again in American history where there are these openings and then closings of whose stories and what stories we’re willing to tell about ourselves as a country and about democracy,” she said.

Featuring figures ranging from early Black writers to modern voices such as Nikole Hannah-Jones, Gene Demby, Jamelle Bouie, Jelani Cobb and Lena Waithe, Jackson says the book offers a new way of understanding both American history and the role Black storytellers have played in shaping it.

She hopes readers walk away with a deeper appreciation for how Black media makers have expanded the boundaries of American democracy and helped the nation move closer to its professed ideals.

Click play to listen to the AURN News report from Jamie Jackson:

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