Diego Camarena-Torres

Ms. Williams

English Language Arts Honors (Grade 10)

13 February 2021

Personal Response to The Idea of America

In the article “The Idea of America” written on August 14, 2019, Nikole Hannah Jones

argues that the true creators of America are not the “founding fathers”, but rather the black

Americans brought to this country in 1619. The primary argument of this article is that black

Americans are the founders of the United States of America, and should be credited as the true

perfectors of democracy. Ms. Hannah-Jones emphasised the importance black Americans have

on this nation, whilst also highlighting that they did it by themselves through harsh oppression

and racism. Her purpose was to educate readers on the impact black Africans had on the United

States, and how this information should no longer be silenced but advocated. Although black

Americans were oppressed for over 250 years, they fought endlessly for equal rights; therefore,

Nikole Hannah-Jones wrote this piece to give black Americans the credit and respect they

deserve for their valiant efforts. This article is still very relevant in our current situation since we

are at the peak of the Black Lives Matter movement, and we are fighting against systemic racism

affecting black Americans. We should care about the article because it can help us in the current

situation. These times are starting to sound awfully familiar after reading “The Idea of America”

and we could really learn from our past to prevent terrible events in the future. This article was

extremely well written and informative, it taught me more about black history than the past 15

years of my life, and I hope others get to enjoy the messages conveyed like I did.