A moving response to The Need for Heroes: Black Intellectuals Dig up their Past

The book is extremely timely, given the state/conditions of the politics of the US currently.

It is good having all this detailed background information in one place. It provides historical background/examples of how and why the current politic and society have reached this point.

The essays of the authors and stories of various heroes humanize them: enslaved Harriet Tubman doing housework to the displeasure of her mistress, Booker T. Washington’s friendship with Charles Banks of Mount Bayou, Mississippi and with Bishop George W. Clinton of Lancaster, South Carolina, the town where my ancestors lived.

Learning about individuals of the years immediately after slavery making their way in the post-slavery era in US is extremely important, not to mention those who struggled for Freedom before the Civil War. Learning about Blacks who were not enslaved, like Crispus Attucks, but struggled for the freedom during American Revolutionary War was eye opening, as well as details of abuses/discrimination against Blacks after the 1812 war.

For myself, I can say “Heroes” makes me want to know and read more about Black people/heroes, past and present, who have contributed to the march forward to Freedom. A copy of The Need for Heroes should be in the home of all “Black Folk” and other Americans!

Barry Stinson