In writing the anthology, Kerlin took extracts from African-American newspapers that had been published in the four months after the Washington race riot of 1919.
[1] In 1922 Frederick German Detweiler published The Negro Press in the United States, a work that built on Kerlin's.
They concluded that "whoever thinks that the negro is not foully abused will find Professor Kerlin's book wholesome, though unpleasant, reading.
"[3] The American Journal of Sociology said that the collection merited "careful reading" by anyone interested in race relations.
"[4] In 1975 the scholar Theodore Kornweibel wrote that the book offered "about the best introduction to New Negro militancy through a wide variety of primary sources that can be found.