When I picked up this book of four hundred years of Black history in America, I mentally braced for impact, because it’s so painful to even think about: slavery to segregation, Jim Crow to BLM, and still so far from real equality after all this time. And yet this book was a gift. Eighty amazing writers (and ten wonderful poets) came together, each taking on a span of history, to share so many stories of resilience and courage and determination. At every point in history, a racist America was consciously constructed and reinforced to keep Black people contained, and yet at every one of those points, Black people fought stubbornly for their right to exist. This book could have been a litany of sorrow, but instead celebrates how Black resistance grew and strengthened with every obstacle. If it weren’t a library copy I would have left sticky notes on every other page. When we finally settle down where we don’t need to worry about moving weight, I’m buying a copy.