What is The Humanity Archive Newsletter?

I’m Jermaine Fowler, and I’ve been obsessed with history since I was a kid. While everyone else was outside, I was at the Louisville public library, hunting down answers to questions that kept me up at night. They called me “the professor.” I wore it like a badge. That obsession never went away. Years later, I started sharing stories on Instagram, the ones textbooks skip over, the ones that make everything else make sense. Suddenly there were over a million people who were just as hungry as I was for the real story.

We’re drowning in information but starving for understanding. Every day, headlines scream at us while the deeper currents of history—the patterns that actually explain what’s happening—get buried.

The Humanity Archive Newsletter is where history, headlines, and big ideas come together. I’m not here to tell you what to think or give you hot takes. What you’ll find is context, patterns, and voices that got erased. Because what the world needs is more contributors, not more critics. Real understanding comes from going back, digging deep, and seeing how everything connects. Thanks for being here, and I can’t wait to see what we discover together.

Why subscribe?

I don’t have corporate backers or investors. My work is funded by readers, which means it stays independent and focused on uncovering the stories that matter. Not chasing clicks or appeasing sponsors.

Right now, I’m a one-man band writing, researching, posting, all of it. With enough support, I can bring on a research assistant, editor, and social media manager. That means more frequent essays, richer analysis, producing documentaries, and bringing back my critically acclaimed podcast with the hidden stories that need to be told. It means the kind of historical context that makes today’s headlines finally make sense.

Paid subscriptions unlock a deeper level of engagement. You’re not just reading; you’re part of a community exploring these ideas together. You get the conversations, the deep dives, the space to think through what all of this means.

Free subscribers get:

• Weekly essays delivered to your inbox
• Stories that connect history to today’s headlines

Paid subscribers get:

• Everything free subscribers receive
• The ability to comment and engage with our community
• Subscriber only deep dives into historical patterns that shape our world
• Regular analysis that helps you understand what’s actually happening right now

Founding members get all of the above, plus:

• A personalized, signed copy of my New York Times bestselling book, The Humanity Archive (yes, I’ll even write a personal note for you).
• The satisfaction of being part of making this work sustainable and independent

Who am I?

Over a million people follow along on Instagram at @thehumanityarchive, where I uncover the forgotten stories that explain our present moment. My book, The Humanity Archive: Recovering the Soul of Black History from a Whitewashed American Myth, became a New York Times instant bestseller.

But beyond any credential, I’m someone who believes that storytelling is sacred work. It’s how we foster empathy between people. It’s how we understand each other across divides. It’s how we make sense of this complicated world.

I go outside the textbooks to find stories that are recognizably human. I connect current issues with the struggles of those who’ve come before us. And I bring hidden history to light in a way that makes it powerfully relevant to your life right now. I want to help you see patterns you couldn’t see before, understand connections you didn’t know existed, and think more clearly about the world you’re living in.