Why this cultural critic set out to tell 'The Un-Whitewashed Story of America'

Cultural critic Michael Harriot is masterful at translating the complex issues of race into twitter threads you'd actually want to read. He manages to take weighty, hard topics and make them understandable and funny.

Harriot's witty social commentary also appears in his new book, "Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America," which he hopes will give readers a new lens for viewing American history.

“When we talk about American history, we usually…view it either through the lens of a white-centered perspective of America; we usually think of it as objective. But a lot of times what we call ‘objective’ is filtered through a white lens,” Harriot says.

“But rarely do we see…American history through the lens of Black people. And that's what I want to do with this book,” he adds.

Harriot was homeschooled as a young child, and attributes that upbringing to giving him a more balanced understanding of American history.