"A remarkable, poignant collection." —Choice
"This oral history of black Madison is an invaluable primary document for students, general readers, and scholars. Interestingly it illuminates the white side of Madison as much as it reveals about what transpired in the black community." —Darlene Clark Hine, from the Foreword
Twenty Black residents of a small Ohio River town here tell the stories of their lives. Madison, though in the North, had its cultural roots in the south, and for most of the twentieth century the town was strictly segregated. In their own words, Black men and women of Madison describe the deprivations of discrimination in their hometown: what it meant, personally and culturally, to be denied opportunities for participation in the educational, economic, political, and social life of the white community. And they describe how they created a community of their own, strong and viable, self-sustaining and mutually supportive of its members.

Don Wallis, a native of Madison, Indiana, is a writer, teacher, and editor of a country newspaper in Vevay, Indiana. He is the author of Harlan Hubbard and the River: A Visionary Life and editor of Payne Hollow Journal, Shantyboat Journal, and Oyo: An Ohio River Anthology.