Examines the history of racism in America and how the use of derogatory terms in reference to African-Americans contributed to keeping them at the bottom of America's socioeconomic ladder during the early to mid twentieth century.

Birth of a notion : 1619-1799 -- Founding fictions -- Niggerology, part 1 -- The progress of prejudice : 1800-1857 -- No place to be somebody -- Niggerology, part 2 -- Life among the lowly -- Jim Crow and company -- Dreams deferred : 1858-1896 -- The world the war made -- Nigger happy -- Separate and unequal : 1897-1954 -- Different times -- From house nigger to niggerati -- Bad niggers -- Progressand paradox : 1955-2004 -- Violence and vehemence -- To slur with love -- What's in a name? -- Nigger vs. nigga.