The Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa wrote in his work, Letters to a Young Novelist, "Literature is the window to view the soul of a people." If much of our contemporary literature reflects the quality of our soul and thus the condition of our culture, then the twenty-three contributors to Black is the Color of Strength, believe it is time to provide our country and the world of other cultures with a collection of essays and short autobiographies reflecting the depths of the beauty, strength and love that defines the African American culture today. This anthology is very unique because it represents the contemporary writings by a collection of artists ranging in age over seven generations. Short essays and autobiographies on such icons as Dr. Maya Angelou, Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker, with an epilogue dedicated to substantiating the proposition that the Black race is an exceptional race, makes this anthology a must read for all the lovers of and inquirers into the African American culture.