The more than 150 historic items showcased here include documents, letters, images, and artifacts, many never before published. Readers will find …

The more than 150 historic items showcased here include documents, letters, images, and artifacts, many never before published. Readers will find 18th-century maps of Africa; the pincushion of Elizabeth Keckley, Mrs Lincoln's seamstress; Depression-era images by Robert M. McNeil; and a Langston Hughes letter in which he shares his first famous poem I, Too, Sing America. Rare photographs show a unique daguerreotype of Frederick Douglass in profile and the Fisk Jubilee Singers, circa 1880. Objects include a bell of Sally Hemmings, Thomas Jefferson's slave and companion, and NAACP membership buttons from the 1960s.

More than two dozen prominent Black scholars and activists offer expert insights on the collection, on subjects ranging from traditional African societies to 21st-century art and politics, making this book as definitive as it is beautiful—a priceless resource that will inform and fascinate serious students and casual readers alike.

Thomas C. Battle, director of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University, is a lecturer, consultant, and author who co-edited …

Thomas C. Battle, director of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University, is a lecturer, consultant, and author who co-edited Black Bibliophiles and Collectors: Preservers of Black History.

Donna M. Wells is curator of Prints and Photographs at the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University. She has published numerous reviews and articles on the history of the African American image.

John Hope Franklin is the James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History, and former Professor of Legal History in the Law School at Duke University. He is recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His books include the award-winning From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans.