Stamped from the Beginning

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America is a non-fiction book about race in the United States by the American historian Ibram X. Kendi, published April 12, 2016 by Bold Type Books, an imprint of PublicAffairs. The book won the National Book Award for Nonfiction.

The book also has two "remixes" for children, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You and Stamped (for Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You. A graphic novel version, adapted and illustrated by Joel Christian Gill, was published in June 2023.

Critical reception

Stamped from the Beginning was generally well-received by critics, including a starred review from Kirkus Reviews, who called the book "ambitious" and "magisterial."

Library Journal's Thomas J. Davis concluded that Stamped from the Beginning "is a must for serious readers of American history, politics, or social thought."

The Guardian's David Olusoga called the book "brilliant and disturbing" and explained that some readers find the book disturbing "because of the author’s fearless reappraisals of the words, actions and philosophies of some of the more revered heroes of American abolitionism and civil rights – including African American heroes," including William Lloyd Garrison and W. E. B. Du Bois. He further states, "Perhaps what is most disturbing about Kendi’s work is that it shows how the same racial ideas, dressed in different period costumes, have been repeatedly used to explain away the deaths of generations of African Americans, slaves, victims of Jim Crow lynchings and, in the 21st-century, casualties of police shootings."

Also writing for The Guardian, Mark Anthony Neal writes, "I can't say whether Ibram X Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning will offend most white people (though I'm willing to bet it will offend some), but he damn sure names white supremacy for what it is."

Sadiah Qureshi, writing for New Statesman, referred to the book as "a lucid, accessible survey of how 'the people' were racialised over 500 years." She further stated, "One might expect Kendi to be despondent, but he believes that eradicating discriminatory policies will consign racist ideas to the past ... an un-yielding narrative of racist ideas, violence and harm. However, the book is also a history of refusals."

Booklist's Rebecca Vnuk commented on Kendi's writing, highlighting how the book is "heavily researched yet easily readable." She further explains, "The hope here is that by studying and remembering the lessons of history, we may be able to move forward to an equitable society."

The Washington Post's Carlos Lozada provided a mixed review, writing, "The greatest service Kendi and provide[s] is the ruthless prosecution of American ideas about race for their tensions, contradictions and unintended consequences. And yet I have greater difficulty embracing the notion that, as Kendi argues, progress on race is inevitably stalked by the advance of racism and that, on an individual level, falling short in specific instances somehow taints the whole of a person ... The old one-drop rule for determining race was based on prejudice and pseudoscience.