"This history of black education in post-Civil War Alabama serves several functions; it collects and publishes an enormous amount of material, much of it fugitive in nature, painting the portraits of many individuals both famous and obscure . . . and it illustrates —particularly in its critical discussion of Booker T. Washington—the history of goals in post-secondary institutions and the appropriateness of vocational or liberal arts training."

—Capsules: A Review of Higher Education Research