This collection is the result of the vision of Arna Bontemps, the Harlem Renaissance poet who was given a small amount of time to describe the movement of black citizens from the farms of the
south to the factories of the north across a hundred years and more. The resulting papers from the project, shut away since 1942, were kept safe from immolation by a wise librarian, who saw
their worth. Dolinar (African American literature and culture, U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) takes an even-handed approach to his selection of material, focusing on content rather than
the person who wrote it. He nevertheless manages to include the work of such Chicago luminaries as Richard Wright, Margaret Walker, Katherine Dunham, Fenton Johnson, Fran Yerby, and Richard
Dunham, and is able to show evidence of the editorial hands of Bontemps and assistant Jack Conroy. The result is an able and rich retelling of the story of African-American migration,
literature, and culture before World War II. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
