I Was Born a Slave Vol. 1 : An Anthology of Classic Slave Narratives, 1770-1849 Book

Long before "crossover" hits like these, though, independent presses knew that interest in African American culture wasn't limited to black readers. Moreover, such houses believed that crucial chapters of the American experience could only be told from the black point of view.

One of the best of these independent presses is Lawrence Hill. Among its recent offerings is the "Library of Black America" series. Yuval Taylor, who serves as the series' general editor, also assembled its first volume, I WAS BORN A SLAVE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF CLASSIC SLAVE NARRATIVES, and its third, FREDERICK DOUGLASS: SELECTED SPEECHES AND WRITINGS. The latter condenses five volumes of Douglass' speeches, letters, articles, and editorials from Philip S. Foner's definitive set. The second volume in this handsome series collects the fiction of Leroi Jones/Amiri Baraka, whose shamanic cameo in last year's Bulworth has led to a renewal of interest in his work.








(originally published in the NASHVILLE SCENE)