In their footsteps

Do you know where you can still witness a nineteenth-century slave wedding? Where the first "colored" infantry in the Civil War shed blood? This unique book - produced by American Visions, the magazine of African American culture - is the most comprehensive and authoritative resource available on black historical sites throughout the United States and Canada. Organized into five geographic regions, and written in moving and imaginative prose, In Their Footsteps covers nearly 1,000 landmarks, including museums, churches, cemeteries, parks, cultural centers, battlefields, private homes, and much more. Each region opens with a personal essay by a prominent African-American writer with a special connection to that part of the country - Gloria Naylor on the South, Amiri Baraka on the North, Gayle Pemberton on the Midwest, Ishmael Reed on the West, and Frederick Ivor Case on Canada. In addition to information on hours, entrance fees, and directions, details and lively anecdotes about each site's historical significance are presented. Much more than simply a travel guide, In Their Footsteps is an absorbing cultural document that celebrates the contributions of hundreds of African-Americans, well-known and obscure, to the history of North America.