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The Ledger
About The Ledger

Mission and methodology.

Why this exists, how it's sourced, how to cite it, how to teach with it.

Mission

The Ledger documents Black American history that American schools have systematically left out. Every entry is sourced, every fact is cited, every page is free.

Primary audience: Black readers encountering this history for the first time, especially the rises and the destructions that traditional curricula skip.

Secondary audiences: educators (high school, college, homeschool), journalists, historians, descendants researching ancestry, Wefunder investors evaluating newBWS as a project.

How we work

Editorial principles

  1. Every fact is sourced. No claim without citation.
  2. Direct quotes are limited and attributed. We paraphrase by default.
  3. Every massacre is named a massacre. We use the formal terminology that descendants and historians fought to establish.
  4. Every rise is named a rise. We document Black excellence in its own terms, not as exception.
  5. Every page can be cited as a source by other educators and writers.
  6. The site is free, ad-free, and never tracked.
Why this exists

The gap the curricula leave.

American history textbooks systematically omit Black history's massacres and rises. The Ledger documents both with primary-source rigor so the next generation has access to what the curricula skip.

Provenance

Who built this

The Ledger is a project of newBWS, the member-owned professional network for the Black capital ecosystem. Built in 2026 ahead of the newBWS Wefunder community round opening Juneteenth 2026. Built with Claude Code by Rasheid Scarlett and contributors.

For educators and journalists

How to cite The Ledger

Each Record and Rise page is itself citable. Suggested format:

The Ledger. [Page Title]. newBWS, [year]. ledger.newbws.com/[path]
For classrooms

How to teach with The Ledger

Every Record and Rise page has a downloadable syllabus PDF, every claim is sourced, and the site is free and ad-free. Educators wanting suggestions for unit design are welcome to email the address below.

Get in touch

Corrections

Every claim is sourced. If a citation is wrong or a fact is missing context, email corrections@newbws.com with the URL and the specific claim. We update.