THE BURDEN OF RACE

While there have been many documentary histories of Negro-white relations in America, Mr. Osofsky's is both Judicious and eloquent; his selections show a wide range of complexities and his introductory passages are short and pertinent clarifications. It is a long way from Joseph Hawkins' slaving days to Stokely Carmichael's speech on the meaning of Black Power, even as the Jim Crow flies, but this anthology goes the distance with remarkably few hesitations or questionable shortcuts. The special quality here is balance: attitudes and conditions 'in the North from the time of Cotton Mather on are dealt with as fully as those in the South; and extremist positions, black and white, are as fairly illustrated as those of the moderates. While all the classic documents are included, so are ""Gentleman's Coon Parade, a vaudeville show, and Elijah Muhammad's Account of the Story of Creation A really representative omnium gatherum.