Enslavement paradoxically made Black people the most American Americans.

Evidence

We were told once, by virtue of our bondage, that we could never be American. But it was by virtue of our bondage that we became the most American of all. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 177

Categorization

• DEFINE: The thesis line of the whole book — Black experience defines American identity precisely because slavery was foundational.
• APHORISMS: A compact definitional inversion: what excluded you from a category is what most deeply defines your membership in it.