[6] Originally headquartered in the basement of his home, with the company's first publications being pamphlets printed on a photocopier, BCP would survive over decades to become one of the longest-running continuous African-American book publishers, alongside Haki Madhubuti's Third World Press.

Bill, which provided financial support for veterans to attend college, Coates earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in community development from the Homestead Montebello Center of Antioch University in Baltimore in 1979.

[1][3][11][12] Among other notable contemporary and historical authors whose work has been published by BCP are John Henrik Clarke, E. Ethelbert Miller, Yosef Ben-Jochannan, Dorothy B. Porter, Amiri Baraka, Larry Neal, W. E. B.

[5][8][9] As Coates says in the mission statement of BCP: "We began publishing because we wanted to extend the memory of what we believe are important books that have helped in meaningful ways to shape the Black diasporic experience and our understanding of the world.

"[13] Coates is a founding member and chair of the National Association of Black Book Publishers and has served as an adjunct instructor of African American Studies at Sojourner-Douglass College in Baltimore.

[19][20][21] David Steinberger, chair of the National Book Foundation, stated: "Over the course of his career, W. Paul Coates has recovered and discovered countless essential works of Black literature, and readers everywhere have reaped the benefits of his passion and care for the written word.

[8][25][26][27] In the Los Angeles Times, Lynell George summarized the book by saying: "What overshadows all is his father's presence, his omnipresence—the profile and teachings of a man who had a strong hand in the rearing of his progeny, both his intimate circle and the extended family of African Americans traversing an uncertain landscape.