Stamped from the Beginning - by Ibram X Kendi & Joel Christian Gill

Book Synopsis

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - A striking graphic novel edition of the National Book Award-winning history of how racist ideas have shaped American life--from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist.

NOMINATED FOR THE NAACP IMAGE AWARD

Racism has persisted throughout history--but so have antiracist efforts to dismantle it. Through deep research and a gripping narrative that illuminates the lives of five key American figures, preeminent historian Ibram X. Kendi reveals how understanding and improving the world cannot happen without identifying and facing the racist forces that shape it.

In collaboration with award-winning historian and comic artist Joel Christian Gill, this stunningly illustrated graphic-novel adaptation of Dr. Kendi's groundbreaking Stamped from the Beginning explores, with vivid clarity and dimensionality, the living history of America, and how we can learn from the past to work toward a more equitable, antiracist future.

Review Quotes

"A welcome, educational addition to social justice collections."--School Library Journal

"An impressive and disturbing weaving of the United States' horrifically racist roots, the institutional and interpersonal racism still pervasive in American society today, and the ways in which antiracist movements can inspire hope and change."--Screen Rant

"Translating a dense historical analysis into a graphic narrative is a strange challenge, but it's one that Gill rises to with aplomb . . . People are complicated, as Stamped illustrates, and while no one individual necessarily 'got it right, ' it also makes clear that something being 'of its time' has never been a good excuse."--Boing Boing

"An amazingly drawn, deeply researched explanation of racial injustice in the United States."--Book Riot

"This is an unvarnished, unapologetic, unflinching, and appropriately snarky tale of the mess we are in."--W. Kamau Bell, Emmy award-winning executive producer, New York Times bestselling author, and comedian

"An essential new approach to understanding centuries of systemic power dynamics throughout our society, from our shared history to possible futures."--Nate Powell, award-winning cartoonist of the March trilogy and Save It for Later

"A book that educates and entertains in a way that makes it an indispensable teaching tool, while simultaneously establishing Gill is a master of this medium."--David F. Walker, author of The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History

"This essential adaptation gives the visual learner something to hold onto while being flown through centuries of history and the ideas that helped shape them . . ."--Thi Bui, author of The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir

"Educational and entertaining . . . This graphic novel takes full advantage of the medium by offering visuals that clarify and complicate an antiracist view of history."--Maurice Carlos Ruffin, author of We Cast a Shadow

"Engaging, educational, and wryly funny . . . Joel Christian Gill's illustrations make the past feel more concrete and give readers of all ages a new way to connect to the material."--Mikki Kendall, author of Hood Feminism and Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists

"Buckle up. Joel Christian Gill and Ibram X. Kendi are absolutely unapologetic. Together, they deliver the facts and will transform everything you thought you already knew about race and racism."--Safiya Umoja Noble, MacArthur Fellow and author of Algorithms of Oppression

"[A] powerful visual artifact that will move readers and inspire change for generations to come."--John Jennings, co-author of My Superhero Is Black and Eisner Award-winning illustrator of Octavia Butler's Kindred

"A must for lovers of graphic non-fiction and American History."--Johnnie Christmas, #1 New York Times bestselling graphic novelist, author of Swim Team, and co-creator of Angel Catbird

"Shedding light on where we've come from and how we might grow beyond it, Dr. Kendi's work asks us to imagine a wholeness we've only caught glimpses of, and to reach for it with smarter policies and braver hearts."--Mira Jacob, author of Good Talk

"Gill imbues this graphic novel adaptation with emotional gravity that bolsters National Book Award-winner Kendi's incisive analysis."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

About the Author

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University, and the founding director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic. Dr. Kendi is the author of Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, making him the youngest winner of that award. He also produced five #1 New York Times bestsellers, including How to Be an Antiracist, Antiracist Baby, and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, co-authored by Jason Reynolds. In 2020, Time magazine named Dr. Kendi one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He was awarded a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the Genius Grant.

Joel Christian Gill is the Chair of the MFA in Visual Narrative at Boston University. He is a cartoonist and historian who speaks nationally on the importance of sharing stories. He is the author of the acclaimed memoir Fights: One Boy's Triumph Over Violence, cited as one of the best graphic novels of 2020 by The New York Times and for which he was awarded the 2021 Cartoonist Studio Prize. He wrote the words and drew the pictures for Fast Enough: Bessie Stringfield's First Ride and the award-winning graphic novel series Strange Fruit: Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History, and Tales of The Talented Tenth, which tell the stories of Bass Reeves, Bessie Stringfield, and Robert Smalls.