We Built This [Beep]
The Historical Receipts of Black American Visionaries, Builders, Farmers, and Founders
For Immediate Release
Trace Thy Roots | Griot Publishing House
By Empress T’Malkia Zuri
A Historical Record Long Overdue
For generations, the labor, intellect, and infrastructure built by Indigenous Black Americans have been minimized, misattributed, or erased altogether. We Built This [Beep] is a corrective record — a documentation project grounded in receipts, not rhetoric.
This work formally archives the undeniable truth: Black Americans were not merely present in the building of the United States — they were foundational to it.
From towns and trade systems to railroads, state buildings, patents, insurance companies, and land ownership, We Built This [Beep] compiles historical evidence proving what has always been known within the community but rarely preserved with institutional weight.
What This Project Documents
We Built This [Beep] is not opinion-based. It is a research-backed historical archive drawing from:
- Historical newspapers
Land deeds and township maps
Patent filings and industrial records
Insurance and mutual aid society documentation
Town charters, city plans, and business registries
Each entry is curated to demonstrate ownership, innovation, labor, and governance carried out by Black Americans — often before federal protections existed and despite systemic obstruction.
Why This Matters Now
In an era where narratives are being rewritten in real time, We Built This [Beep] exists to ensure the historical record cannot be altered without challenge.
Claims that “immigrants built America,” or that Black Americans were merely passive laborers, collapse under documented evidence. This project preserves who built what, where, and when — with names, dates, and sources attached.
This is not a response to debate.
This is an archival intervention.
A Living Archive
The publication is part of a larger initiative under Trace Thy Roots, a platform dedicated to preserving Indigenous Black American genealogy, land history, and documentation.
The accompanying blog will serve as:
An extension of the archive
A release space for featured records
A public-facing historical ledger
A resource for educators, researchers, and descendants
Future volumes and digital releases will expand the archive as additional records are uncovered and verified.
About the Author
Empress T’Malkia Zuri is a trained genealogist, historian, and founder of Trace Thy Roots. Her work focuses on archival recovery, reclassification analysis, and the preservation of Indigenous Black American lineage through documented evidence.
Her publications challenge inherited narratives by centering records over rhetoric and memory over myth.
Availability
We Built This [Beep] will be released in print as a permanent historical volume.
Select excerpts, records, and supporting materials will be published through the Trace Thy Roots blog for public access and education.
For updates, archival releases, and documentation previews, visit:
Trace Thy Roots — Our History Blog
