One of the most powerful and provocative voices to emerge from the social and political unrest preceding the Civil War, the abolitionist and political activist Delany is today considered to have been among the earliest black nationalists. This volume offers a concise introduction to Delany's extraordinary career: included in full is the rousing separatist oration "Political Destiny of the Colored Race on the American Continent," followed by a substantial selection from Delany's sole published novel, Blake, often hailed as one of the masterpieces of nineteenth-century American literature. The volume concludes with an epistolary debate between Delany and Frederick Douglass, situating Delany's ideas in relation to those of Douglass and of Harriet Beecher Stowe.

This volume is one of a number of editions that have been drawn from the pages of the acclaimed Broadview Anthology of American Literature. The series is designed to make selections from the anthology available in a format convenient for use in a wide variety of contexts; each edition features an introduction and exaplanatory footnotes, and is designed to meet the needs of today's students.