Writing in true social history tradition, William W. Giffin presents a magisterial study of African Americans focusing on times that saw the culmination of trends that were fundamentally important in shaping the twentieth century. While many scholars have examined African Americans in the south and such large cities as New York and Chicago during this time, other important urban areas have been ignored. Ohio, with its large but very different urban centers--notably, Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati--provides Giffin with the wealth of statistical data and qualitative material that he...