The Transatlantic Slave Trade: Overcoming the 500-Year Legacy

＂Dr. Chavis shows us that the fight against the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade is not just about seeking justice for past wrongs but about dismantling the present systems of oppression that have evolved from it.＂ - From the Foreword by CHUCK D

The Transatlantic Slave Trade: Overcoming the 500-Year Legacy is a profound exploration of one of humanity’s darkest chapters. Co-authored by National Newspapers Publishers Association (NNPA) Senior National Correspondent Stacy M. Brown and renowned historian Dr. Benjamin Chavis, this book delves into the enduring impacts and legacies of the transatlantic slave trade from 1500 to 2024.

The transatlantic slave trade is a brutal scar on the face of humanity, a monstrous crime that tore millions of Africans from their homeland, dehumanized them, and built the so-called American dream on their blood, sweat, and tears. This isn’t just history--it’s the very foundation of the systemic racism that still plagues America today. To understand the real roots of the struggle, one must return to where it all began. And that’s precisely what this book does--unflinchingly and unapologetically.

Benjamin Franklin Chavis Jr. is an African-American activist, author, journalist, and the current president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association. Chavis serves as No Labels’ national co-chair. In his youth, Chavis was a youth coordinator and SCLC assistant to Martin Luther King Jr., who inspired him to work in the civil rights movement. At the age of 23, Chavis rose to international prominence in 1971 as the leader of the Wilmington Ten in North Carolina, civil rights activists who were unjustly convicted of committing arson. As the oldest of the ten, Chavis received the longest sentence of 34 years in NC prisons. The Wilmington Ten convictions and sentences were appealed and overturned, and in 1980 all ten were freed by the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals due to ＂prosecutorial misconduct.＂ Chavis returned to graduate school and the field of civil rights, and he became a Vice President of the National Council of Churches in 1988 in New York City. In 1993, the national board of directors of the NAACP elected Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr as the executive director and CEO of America’s oldest civil rights organization. Chavis later served in 1995 as the National Director of the Million Man March, and the Founder and CEO of the National African American Leadership Summit (NAALS). Since 2001, Chavis has been CEO and Co-Chairman of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, in New York City which he co-founded with hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons. On June 24, 2014, Chavis became the president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, an African-American organization which focuses on supporting and advocating for publishers of the nation’s more than 230 black newspapers. Stacy Brown covers Carlisle and Dickinson College for The Sentinel. He has worked for the community news division of the Los Angeles Times, The Los Angeles Daily News, The Times-Tribune and MSNBC. Stacy has appeared on numerous television and radio programs including AC 360, Good Morning America, Today, Dateline NBC, Nightline, The Howard Stern Show, The Wendy Williams Experience, Nancy Grace, Jane Velez-Mitchell, Dr. Drew, Joy Behar Show, Fox & Friends, MSNBC News, NBC Nightly News, MTV, BET and The Biography Channel. As a journalist, Stacy has covered, interviewed, and even collaborated with celebrities including Diane Sawyer, Al Roker, Denzel Washington, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Al Green, Elton John, Steven Tyler, Howard Stern, Justin Timberlake, and Spike Lee. Stacy is the author of several books including the Essence Magazine nominated best biography, ＂Blind Faith: The Miraculous Journey of Lula Hardaway and her son, Stevie Wonder,＂ and ＂Michael Jackson: The Man Behind The Mask, An Insider’s Account of the King of Pop.＂