Linda Salisbury's retelling of John Mercer Langston's life story is closely based on his 534-page autobiography, From the Virginia Plantation to the National Capital (published 1894). Langston's career in education, politics, and as a champion of Constitutional rights for all, is stunning, yet largely unknown today.

Born in Louisa, Virginia, in 1829, he and his siblings were the children of a wealthy white plantation owner and his emancipated slave. Langston was orphaned at age four, was moved to the free state of Ohio, and learned to be self-reliant.

He received two...