What is History?

James Baldwin ((August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987)
Photo - Miami Dade College Archives

"History is not something you read about in a book.  History is not even the past. It's the present because everybody operates, whether or not we know it, out of assumptions which are produced only by our history."

--- James Baldwin, Speech to National Press Club, Washington, D.C., 12/10/86