ABOUT
This is a full history of the American Negro, from his origins in the great empires of the Nile Valley and the western Sudan through the Negro revolt of the 1960’s. Lerone Bennett, Jr., clarifies the role of Negro Americans during the Colonial period, the Revolutionary War, the slavery era, the Civil War, the years of Reconstruction, and the crucial epoch from Booker T. Washington to Marin Luther King, Jr. His account is interspersed with portraits of great figures like Benjamin Banneker, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, and others, as well as with reports on the exploits and contributions of many men and women whose names have generally been forgotten in the pages of American history. In a special section, “landmarks and Milestones,” Mr. Bennett outlines the significant dates, events and personalities of American Negro history from 1492 to 1964.