Stamped from the Beginning: A Graphic History of Racist Ideas in America

Kendi’s anti-racism opus receives a pointedly visual adaptation from Gill (Fights: One Boy’s Triumph Over Violence). Since the beginning of America, there have been racist, assimilationist, and anti-racist ideas and people who spoke for or against them. The evolution of these ideas is seen through the viewpoints of five historical figures: Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. DuBois, and Angela Davis. As guides, the five demonstrate how the country takes a step forward with emancipation and civil rights, but several steps back with Jim Crow laws and the war on drugs. Gill uses grayscale illustrations that place emphasis on the subject. For every 20 panels or so of serious commentary, there are scenes of levity such as historical figures with heart-shaped eyes because someone agreed with their point of view, or a page presenting assimilationists as wannabe superheroes. Gill also blends historical quotes and statements from the original edition with modern colloquialisms. The latter makes the book more accessible. Notably, Gill encases racists and assimilationist comments in black speech bubbles that drip like sticky ooze.