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First published in French in 1808 and translated into English two years later under the title An Enquiry Concerning the Intellectual and Moral Faculties, and Literature of the Negroes, this book was a touchstone for nineteenth-century abolitionists in England and the United States. Written by Abbe Henri Gregoire (1750–1831), it argued vigorously against assumptions of black inferiority and in favor of the humanity, equality, and cultural achievements of people of African heritage. His treatise summarized most of the available written thought on race up to that time. A leading activist in the French Revolution, Gregoire reflected in his arguments the spirit of “libertie, egalite, and fraternite” and anticipated twentieth-century race inquiry and theory. Although influential in its time, the first translation of Gregoire's work was incomplete and flawed. This new edition presents a fresh, accurate, and complete text of this key document in the history of Western racial thought. The book includes a substantial biography of Gregoire and analysis of the historical context in which he wrote and the impact of his work.

This volume celebrates the work of Ousmane Sembène, the brilliant African filmmaker and writer. Since the 1950s, working in his native Senegal, Sembène has produced a series of films and novels that incisively depict the realities of contemporary African experience, particularly that of urban and industrial Africa. The book begins with critical essays on Sembène’s oeuvre by Frederick Ivor Case, Françoise Pfaff, Mbye Cham, and Claire Andrade-Warkins. There follows a series of presentations by distinguished black writers who discuss their craft and the ways in which language can function as a political act of cultural legitimation. These writers include Toni Cade Bambara, Earl Lovelace, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, John Edgar Wideman, and Sembène. 

The next section reproduces Sembène’s remarks on his film Camp de Thiaroye and an extended interview he recorded in Toronto in 1992. His comments are presented in both French and English. The volume concludes with annotated bibliographies of Sembène’s novels and of the films he has written and directed.