Alice Dunbar Nelson brought to her work a rich cultural legacy. Only one generation removed from slavery and born during the turbulent Reconstruction, periods during which opportunities for black Americans were often deliberately obstructed, Dunbar Nelson defied the stereotype of the ineducable black through her articles, essays, poems,reviews, stories, and anthologies of the works of other Afro-Americans. Her work demonstrates the sense of responsibility she felt toward the generations of Afro-Americans born after her. She wanted to bring to black Americans those works that "might help them with a belief in their possibilities." She made no apology for being highly literate, realizing that sharing her knowledge and experience was her best protest against racism. A writer in the genteel tradition, she did more than provide a good model for black youths; her prolific and extensive writings treat local as well as universal subjects and well-known personalities, and...