What began with Michael Carson teaching his son Matthew about Black history became a five-book series. Their passion for learning about historical figures grew into a collaboration, and they wanted to educate future generations about the many significant contributions Black people have made to society and the world.
Michael Carson spoke with rolling out about the five-book series and why the younger generation should learn about their history.
Why did you create this book series?
My 14-year-old son Matthew inspired me to write these books. We co-authored five books on African American history. We have African American Inventions That Changed The World, Today in African American History, African American Musicians That Changed Music Forever, How Did Black History Month Begin?, and Unsung African American History Makers. They’re incredible books to go in and learn about the history. This wasn’t taught to me when I was at school, and I wanted to make sure my son learned this growing up.
Why did you choose history as the topic of choice for your books?
It’s something that we should all know about ourselves. We should all learn about the people who came before us and what they contributed to our society. A lot of things we use today we don’t even realize they were created by African American people. I wanted my son to learn about his history. Unfortunately, it’s not all taught in school, but I wanted him to learn for himself.
What are three reasons young people should learn about their history?
It’s very inspirational to learn about people who were in the 1800s, the self-made millionaires. If they can do it back in those times against much more oppression, what can you do today? We have all the tools at our resources. They didn’t have the internet, they didn’t have social media. Today, you have access to those things, and you can pretty much do what you want. The second thing is when you learn about where you come from, you can teach others. That’s what we’re trying to do. It’s all about educating ourselves. The third thing is we’ve all seen how it is to become great athletes and ball players, but if you put 100% of your heart into it, you can do anything you want. You can be a doctor, lawyer, or teacher. It’s very easy, you just have to put your heart into it.
