- Ida B. Wells on the scourge of lynching
- Richard T. Greener's scathing critique of America's "White Problem"
- Charles Chesnutt on the nullification of the Fifteenth Amendment
- Booker T. Washington's historic Atlanta address
- John Marshall Harlan's eloquent and prophetic dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson;
- Mary Church Terrell on segregation in the nation's capital and the convict lease system
- William Monroe Trotter's dramatic White House confrontation with Woodrow Wilson
- Jeanette Carter's tribute to the men and women who fought back against white mobs in 1919
The volume also presents revealing examples of white supremacist advocacy by Nathaniel Shaler and Benjamin Tillman; testimony about the "Exoduster" migration to Kansas in the 1870s; celebrations of pathbreaking Black musicians and stage performers; writing about the Wilmington insurrection of 1898, the founding of the NAACP, and Black soldiers in World War I; and contrasting editorials from the Black and white press on prizefighter Jack Johnson and the outlaw Robert Charles. As the teaching of our nation's history, especially the history of race in America, becomes increasingly contested, this book will serve as a vital resource, a crucial reminder of where we've been, how far we've come, and how long the road ahead remains.