This work is to some extent a compilation of matter which on former occasions have been used by the author in lectures and addresses bearing on the Negroes in art. There is in it, however, much that is new, for even in this formerly used material the author has incorporated additional facts and more extensive comment. This work is not given out as the last word. It is one of a series to appear under the caption of the "Black Folk in Art" or an effort to set forth the contributions of the blacks to art in ancient and modern times. This work itself is, as the author calls it, "A Study in Interpretation." His purpose, he says, is to indicate as well as he can, what he thinks are the criteria for the formation of judgment in these matters. Yet his interpretation is to be different from technical criticism, as his effort is primarily directed toward intention, meaning and effect. This thought is the keynote to the comments on the various sculptures illustrated in the work. While one may not agree with the author in his arrangement and may differ from his interpretation, it must be admitted that the book contains interesting information and is a bold step in the right direction. It is a portraiture of freedom as a motive for artistic expression and an effort to symbolize this desire for liberation to animate the citizenry in making. It brings to light numerous facts as to how the thought of the Negro has been dominant in the minds of certain artists and how in the course of time race prejudice has caused the pendulum to swing the other way in the interest of those who would forget what the blacks have thought and felt and done. The many illustrations constitute the chief value of the work. There appears _The Greek Slave_ by Hiram Powers, _Freedom_ on the dome of the Capitol, _The Libyan Sibyl_ by W. W. Story, _The Freedman_ by J. I. A. Ward, _The Freedwoman_ by Edmonia Lewis, _Emancipation_ in Washington by Thomas Ball, _Emancipation_ in Edinburgh, Scotland, by George E. Bissell, _Emancipation_ panel on the Military Monument in Cleveland by Levi T. Scofield, _Emancipation_ by Meta Warrick Fuller, _The Beecher Monument_ in Brooklyn by J. I. A. Ward, _Africa_ by Randolph Rogers, _Africa_ by Daniel C. French, _The Harriet Tubman Tablet, The Frederick Douglass Monument_ in Rochester, _The Attucks Monument_ in Boston by Robert Kraus, _The Faithful Slaves Monument_ in Fort Mill, South Carolina, _l'Africane_ by E. Caroni, _l'Abolizione_ by R. Vincenzo, _Ethiopia_ and _Toussaint L'Ouverture_ by Anne Whitney, _The Slave Auction_, _The Fugitive's Story_, _Taking the Oath and Drawing Rations_, _The Wounded Scout_, and _Uncle Ned's School_ by John Rogers, _The Slave Memorial_ by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and _The Death of Major Montgomery_. * * * * *