About the Author

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William Loren Katz (1927-2019) was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Greenwich Village in a progressive family dedicated to social justice. After serving in WWII and attending college on the GI Bill, he became a teacher in New York for many years. The author of more than 40 books, many for younger readers, he documented the often overlooked contributions of black and indigenous people through history. Through his scholarship and educational outreach, he helped to refashion social studies curriculums across the country, encouraging the histories of minorities and women to be part of American history courses rather than siloed into their own fields of study. In one of his best-known books, Black Indians, he wrote, "I have been humbled by the awesome task of rejecting bias. I have never sought bland neutrality and have consoled myself that unbiased history has yet to be written." Herb Boyd is a journalist, activist, and teacher who has written or edited 22 books, including Black Detroit, an NAACP 2017 Image Award Finalist and 2018 Michigan Notable Books honoreeand Civil Rights: Yesterday & Today. His book Baldwin's Harlem, a biography of James Baldwin, was a finalist for a 2009 NAACP Image Award, and his anthology Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America, co-edited with Robert Allen, was a recipient of a 1995 American Book Award. His books We Shall Overcome, Autobiography of a People and The Harlem Reader have been adopted into classrooms around the country. He has written for many publications including the Amsterdam News, Cineaste, and The Black Scholar. Among the highlights of his journalistic career was an invitation to fly on Air Force One with President Obama, whom he has interviewed on several occasions. Boyd lives and works in Harlem, New York City.