Black Hands, White House

Slave Labor and the Making of America

By: Renee K. Harrison

Narrated by: Renee K. Harrison

Black Hands, White House documents and appraises the role enslaved women and men played in building the US, both its physical and its fiscal infrastructure. The book highlights the material commodities produced by enslaved communities during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. These commodities - namely tobacco, rice, sugar, and cotton, among others - enriched European and US economies; contributed to the material and monetary wealth of the nation's founding fathers, other early European immigrants, and their descendants; and bolstered the wealth of present-day companies founded during the American slave era. Critical to this study are also examples of enslaved laborers' role in building Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and George Washington's Mount Vernon. Subsequently, their labor also constructed the nation's capital city, Federal City (later renamed Washington, DC), its seats of governance - the White House and US Capitol - and other federal sites and memorials.

Given the enslaved community's contribution to the US, this work questions the absence of memorials on the National Mall that honor enslaved Black-bodied people. Harrison argues that such monuments are necessary to redress the nation's historical disregard of Black people and America's role in their forced migration, violent subjugation, and free labor.

©2021 Renee K. Harrison (P)2022 eChristian

The way Dr Harrison articulated this work! She spoke with conviction and compassion!

Dr Harrison has always been a favorite of my teachers because we share a common bond in law enforcement. She has always pushed me to tell my truth in which I have always been moved every time I step foot into the pulpit. Her book goes through a journey of African history and I truly love this work.

Best Education You Will Never Get In School!

Phenomenal! It's the title for me! I read the book first! It is a page-turner. I could not put it down. Same with the audio, I could not stop listening! Get both, the audible and book!!

What I do not like about the audible is the absence of the charts! The charts are mindblowing. The charts tell a story all their own. Powerful!

For starters, Black Hands, White House: Slave Labor and the Making of America, belongs in the hands of every American, Indigenous Person, Historian, and every high school, college, and aspiring history master and doctoral student!

Why 5-Stars?

OVERALL: It is a damn good book. Great content! Rich in under-reported accounts of enslaved black peoples contributes to building this mighty nation! It is a lighthouse for those like me who want a more nuanced historical recording of America’s beginnings.

PERFORMANCE: Simply put, Dr. Renee K. Harrison brings Broadway to Audible. I am biased. I love books narrated by the author. There is a deeper connection between the work and the outpouring of words. The outcome of Harrison’s narration is a storyline that lulls you in incessantly until the end! Besides being drawn in by the under-told collection of enslaved, early European settlers, founding fathers, and indigenous peoples' narratives, you feel the passion for her work. It is poetic to listen to and read!

STORY: Brilliant. Rooted in historical facts! Harrison provides a more balanced account of America's rising and challenges America to give credit where credit is due - ENSLAVED BLACK WOMEN, MEN, and CHILDREN propelled this Nation onto the world’s stage.

Harrison's call for a monument on the National Mall is more than appropriate and necessary!