Frances Smith Foster has rediscovered three novels by Frances E.W. Harper, the best-known Africa-American writer of the nineteeny century and author of the classic Iola Leroy. Originally serialized in issues of THE CHRISTIAN RECORDER between 1868 and 1888, these works are the first written specifically for an African-American audience; they address issues of passing, social responsibility, courtship, sexuality, and temperance. Winner of the College Language Associateion Book Award, these novels make a profound contribution to our understanding of a crucial era in American history