Genovese, Eugene D. Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made, [New York], 1974.

Genovese's exhaustive account of slave culture can be used as a source book for focused research. It provides detailed background for the culture in which Wilson's character live in the 1930s.

Honey, Maureen. Shadowed Dreams: Women's Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance, 1989.

This valuable collection of women's poetry from the Harlem Renaissance also includes a readable introduction to the period.

Morgan, Edmund S. American Slavery American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia, [New York], 1975.

This ground-breaking work of scholarship outlines the economic basis to the development of slavery in colonial Virginia and its connection to white citizens' increasing equality.

Nadel, Alan, editor. May All Your Fences Have Gates: Essay on August Wilson, University of Iowa Press, 1994.

This collection of essays on Wilson's major plays is a good source for secondary criticism on the playwright...