Featured in the image: a book cover with a predominantly black background and centered white text in an elegant serif typeface. The cover includes three portraits rendered in earthy, historical tones: an unidentified Black sailor from the late 18th century, Phillis Wheatley—the first published African American author—and Absalom Jones, a leading religious figure and abolitionist. Together, the images underscore the intellectual, spiritual, and vocational roles Black Americans held at the nation’s birth.

Black Writers of the Founding Era

$27.60
$27.60 $40.00
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Featured in the image: a book cover with a predominantly black background and centered white text in an elegant serif typeface. The cover includes three portraits rendered in earthy, historical tones: an unidentified Black sailor from the late 18th century, Phillis Wheatley—the first published African American author—and Absalom Jones, a leading religious figure and abolitionist. Together, the images underscore the intellectual, spiritual, and vocational roles Black Americans held at the nation’s birth.
  • Featured in the image: a book cover with a predominantly black background and centered white text in an elegant serif typeface. The cover includes three portraits rendered in earthy, historical tones: an unidentified Black sailor from the late 18th century, Phillis Wheatley—the first published African American author—and Absalom Jones, a leading religious figure and abolitionist. Together, the images underscore the intellectual, spiritual, and vocational roles Black Americans held at the nation’s birth.
  • Featured in the image: a book cover with a predominantly black background and centered white text in an elegant serif typeface. The cover includes three portraits rendered in earthy, historical tones: an unidentified Black sailor from the late 18th century, Phillis Wheatley—the first published African American author—and Absalom Jones, a leading religious figure and abolitionist. Together, the images underscore the intellectual, spiritual, and vocational roles Black Americans held at the nation’s birth.
Black Writers of the Founding Era

Black Writers of the Founding Era

$27.60
$27.60 $40.00

A groundbreaking anthology, Black Writers of the Founding Era restores Black voices to the story of America’s birth, bringing together more than 120 writers whose words span poetry, letters, petitions, sermons, and personal reflections from the Revolutionary era.

Their writing—by people enslaved and free, famous and forgotten—reveals how deeply Black Americans shaped debates over freedom, equality, and the meaning of the new nation.

This living history resonates powerfully at the Museum of the City of New York; a place uniquely rooted in the layered stories that continue to shape America.

  • Editors & authors: James G. Basker with Nicole Seary; writings by 120+ Black authors.
  • Length: About 767 pages.
  • Illustrations: 16‑page color insert with portraits and original manuscripts.

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