A Matter of Truth-The Struggle for African Heritage & Indigenous People Equal Rights in Providence, Rhode Island (1620-2020) - Hardcover

by Theresa Guzman Stokes (Author), Keith W. Stokes (Author)

The United States is considered a country where everyone has a fair opportunity and thrives. Yet, the history of America is one of racial inequity, deepening cycles of poverty, violence, and oppression that exist into the present day. Racial disparities in economic well-being are traced to the European settlement of the Western Hemisphere. Nearly all the countries in North and South America and the Caribbean were settled through the founding enterprises of the taking of Indigenous people's land and the use of African heritage people's labor. Colonizers paid little or nothing for native land and paid no wages for enslaved African labor that produced the products and services that created enormous multi generational wealth and prosperity.

"A Matter of Truth" provides a well-researched and documented account of the evolution of racial discrimination in Rhode Island dating back to the early settlement and evolving into what is a present-day racial and equity divide found across the country. With over 600 primary and secondary source footnotes, the book provides a comprehensive view of the evolution of racial discrimination. A Matter of Truth will give the reader an in-depth understanding of the history of one of America's most historic cities and states.