Black Legacy: A History of New York’s African Americans

Discover the complete Black history of New York--from 1609 to the present--by the award-winning author of Breaking the Chains and Black Indians. For readers 12 and up.

Includes a new intro and last chapter with insights on modern-day movements like Black Lives Matter, plus 50+ historical maps, illustrations, and photos. Essential for NY teachers, librarians and teens.

From the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in New Amsterdam in 1609 to the Harlem Renaissance to the impact of #BLM, here is a concise and newly updated history of Black Americans in New York for readers 12 and up. Black Legacy reasserts the essential work of teacher and historian William Loren Katz, who was committed to documenting and uplifting the stories of Black Americans’ courage and creativity, resilience and rebellion, especially for younger readers. A new introduction gives context to Katz’s ＂full tableau of Black accomplishments and aspirations,＂ and a new chapter brings the book up to the present day, considering the changing economic, cultural and political influences on Black New Yorkers. Black Legacy includes, chronologically,

• Black politicians and poets, abolitionists and athletes and activists, and the first Black children to attend public schools;
• Sojourner Truth, Paul Robeson, W.E.B. DuBois, Frederick Douglass, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, and others who fought for Black freedom;
• Shirley Chisholm, Madame C.J. Walker, NY’s first Black mayor David Dinkins and many other businesspeople and politicians who brought dignity through their work toward equality;
• and the Black history of Seneca Village and Weeksville, the Savoy and Cotton clubs of the Jazz Age, Harlem Hospital where Martin Luther King Jr. nearly died, the African burial site at Trinity Church, and so much more.

Written with economy and flair, Black Legacy is a fascinating read, a necessary teaching tool, and a great addition to the literature of the Black history of New York and of America.

William Loren Katz (1927-2019) was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Greenwich Village in a progressive family dedicated to social justice. After serving in WWII and attending college on the GI Bill, he became a teacher in New York for many years. The author of more than 40 books, many for younger readers, he documented the often overlooked contributions of black and indigenous people through history. Through his scholarship and educational outreach, he helped to refashion social studies curriculums across the country, encouraging the histories of minorities and women to be part of American history courses rather than siloed into their own fields of study. In one of his best-known books, Black Indians, he wrote, ＂I have been humbled by the awesome task of rejecting bias. I have never sought bland neutrality and have consoled myself that unbiased history has yet to be written.＂

Herb Boyd is a journalist, activist, and teacher who has written or edited 22 books, including Black Detroit, an NAACP 2017 Image Award Finalist and 2018 Michigan Notable Books honoree
and Civil Rights: Yesterday & Today. His book Baldwin’s Harlem, a biography of James Baldwin, was a finalist for a 2009 NAACP Image Award, and his anthology Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America, co-edited with Robert Allen, was a recipient of a 1995 American Book Award. His books We Shall Overcome, Autobiography of a People and The Harlem Reader have been adopted into classrooms around the country. He has written for many publications including the Amsterdam News, Cineaste, and The Black Scholar. Among the highlights of his journalistic career was an invitation to fly on Air Force One with President Obama, whom he has interviewed on several occasions. Boyd lives and works in Harlem, New York City.