Unpaid Labor is a project based in history. It is a project that began with one African American man seeking to understand race in America. He sought to understand how things got to be the way they are. He sought an understanding that his participation in the Civil Rights Movement of the early 1960s had not given him. He sought to understand the external influence of race was on him and his family and his business and his community. His journey to understanding took him from curiosity to anger to understanding to action. The action that emerged is Unpaid Labor. Honor the people. Tell the story of contribution. Use history to help heal race relations. The history would consist of thousands of facts relating to millions of people and hundreds of years. That’s how big the story is of Unpaid Labor and Contribution in America. It’s so big that the history of America without it is incomplete at best and a complete distortion at worse.

It was a journey of some 20 years that he took through the pages of history. There was nowhere else to look. And who were his companions on that journey? They were a constellation of stars! They were the trained historians that have earned degrees from our nation’s best colleges and universities. They are the trained historians that have labored in the libraries and museums and courthouses of America to tell us of our past. The historians and the colleges and the universities and the books are too numerous to mention here (some may be seen at www.unpaidlabor.com). They form a constellation of stars. They are the heroes. They wrote the books. Some of the books had not been written when his journey began. All would help him on his way to what has become Unpaid Labor.

Thousands of facts obtained by years of research would uncover the Contribution of the first 12 generations of Americans of African descent. As many as they are they would point to one conclusion. The conclusion? The contribution of the first 12 generations of African Americans is the indispensable factor in the United States becoming the most successful nation in the world in modern history. A stellar conclusion arrived at by a genuine seeker looking to a constellation of stars.

But there’s more. Our seeker began his journey with a purpose. His purpose was to understand how things got to be the way they are. His purpose was to understand the external influence of race was on him and his family and his business and his community. His purpose was achieved. The understanding he gained from learning about the contribution of Unpaid Labor gave him hope, honor, dignity and standing. It moved him from curiosity to anger to understanding to action. Unpaid Labor believes that the story of contribution will have the same result in the minds of all Americans. As it does it will help in healing race relations.