Hey, it's Empara's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. When I was in elementary school,

we did a production of 1776, the musical about the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

And I remember overhearing their grown-ups talking about what to do about the song,

molasses to rum, which features Edward Rutledge singing in defense of slavery. As the lyrics go,

shall we dance to the sound of a profitable pound in molasses and rum and slaves. The song got

cut out of our particular production. And I got to be honest, I kind of get it. Maybe they didn't

want the poor 10-year-old kid playing Edward Rutledge singing a song about how good

slavery is, no matter the irony or context or whatever.

But I was thinking about our education system's relationship to slavery when listening to

today's interview.

It's between here and now Celeste Headley and political commentator Michael Harriet, whose book

is called Black AF History,

the unwhitewashed story of America.

And in this conversation,

Harriet makes a point that the black history that was eventually taught in schools

was specifically framed in such a way

that it fit in without preconceived notions of America

and its ideals.

That's after the break.

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