New Book Explores Black History and the American Presidency: Every president of the United States from George Washington to Barack Obama has had to confront issues surrounding African-Americans and race relations in America. Each has left a trail of documents—statements, executive orders, speeches, letters and other items—that reveal far more than history textbooks do about what the chief executives did or felt about the matters at hand.
Most of us rarely get access to these direct sources, but Eric Freedman, an associate professor of journalism at Michigan State University, and his co-author, Stephen A. Jones, an assistant professor of history at Central Michigan University, have made it a little easier to learn about how each president has dealt with the Black race in America.
