A study of African American history written for young readers by noted Harlem Renaissance member Arna Bontemps, which won the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. Bontemps was a friend of quite a few important African-American activists and authors, including W.E.B. DuBois and Langston Hughes, the latter of whom Bontemps dedicated this book to, also including his poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers before the text. Bontemps was an influential force in establishing the importance of African-American literature in academic studies.
