HEARTS OF GOLD [Paperback]

J. McHenry Jones’sHearts of Goldis a gripping tale of post-Civil War battles against racism and systemic injustice. Originally published in 1896, this novel reveals an African American community of individuals dedicated to education, journalism, fraternal organizations, and tireless work serving the needs of those abandoned by the political process of the white world. Jones challenges conventional wisdom by addressing a range of subjects—from interracial relationships to forced labor in coal mines—that virtually no other novelist of the time was willing to approach. With the addition of an introduction and appendix, this new edition reveals the difficult foundations upon which African Americans built a platform to address injustice; generate opportunities; and play a prominent role in American social, economic, and political life.

"...the first of a projected series of out-of-print West Virginia literary works by African American writers. An extensive introduction and six appendices provide fascinating context for a love story set among convict coal miners in West Virginia."
Appalachian Heritage

"...[a] groundbreaking novel."
Phyllis Wilson Moore, Journal of Appalachian Studies

"[This] series will expand the scholarly discussion about the ways in which such texts help us to rethink the field and insure that the books will be taught in the classroom and thereby be sustained for the next generation. . . .Professors Ernest and Moody have the expertise to insure the highest quality for these aspects of publication."
Sharon Harris,  Director, Humanities Institute and Professor of English, University of Connecticut

"As the editor of African American Review, Joycelyn K. Moody has had her finger on the pulse of new scholarship.....[while] John Ernest [is] a scholarly editor whose work is careful, insightful, and accessiblelà