Letters from Black America fills a literary and historical void by presenting the pantheon of African American experience in the most intimate way possible—through the heartfelt correspondence of those who lived through monumental changes and pivotal events, from the American Revolution to the war in Iraq, from slavery to the election of Obama.
“As the country enters a fresh atmosphere around our latest president, Letters from Black America strikes a vital, rich chord in which to breathe the new air.”
—Karen Long, Cleveland Plain Dealer

“The great achievement is that these writings often go far beyond race and class to simply tell the story of the human experience in America.”
—Library Journal, starred review

“Letters from Black America is itself a work of art.”
—Andrew Carroll, editor of Letters of a Nation and War Letters

“An extraordinary peek at what went on behind the closed doors of black America for nearly three hundred years. Notables are reduced to human beings, and the anonymous come to life. These extraordinary snapshots of the past will provide hours of informative pleasure and delightful reading.”
—James McBride, author of The Color of Water

 
Pamela Newkirk is the editor of A Love No Less: More Than Two Centuries of African American Love Letters and the author of Within the Veil: Black Journalists, White Media. An award-winning journalist and professor of journalism at New York University, she lives in New York City.