The history and contributions of African Americans in northeast Indiana have been largely overlooked. This new publication, African Americans in Fort Wayne: The First 200 Years, does not claim to be a definitive history of the topic. It does, however, recognize and honor the pioneers who have made the African-American community in Fort Wayne what it is today. Through diary excerpts, oral histories, and studies of social organizations, religion, and community, a rich, 200-year heritage is vividly depicted.

The story begins in 1794, when evidence points to the first black inhabitant of Fort...