"It is offered not as a textbook nor as a scientific discussion, but merely as reading entertainment founded on the life history, social struggle, and customs of a little-known people."-From the Preface C. A. Weslager's Delaware's Forgotten Folk chronicles the history of the Nanticoke Indians and the Cheswold Moors, from John Smith's first encounter with the Nanticokes along the Kuskakarawaok River in 1608, to the struggles faced by these uniquely multiracial communities amid the racial and social tensions of mid-twentieth-century America. It explores the legend surrounding the origin of the two distinct but intricately intertwined groups, focusing on how their uncommon racial heritage-white, black, and Native American-shaped their identity within society and how their traditional culture retained its significance into their present. Weslager's demonstrated command of available information and his familiarity with the people themselves bespeak his deep respect for the Moor and Nanticoke communities. What began as a curious inquiry into the overlooked peoples of the Delaware River Valley developed into an attentive and thoughtful study of a distinct group of people struggling to remain a cultural community in the face of modern opposition. Originally published in 1943, Delaware's Forgotten Folk endures as one of the fundamental volumes on understanding the life and history of the Nanticoke and Moor peoples.

Keith Alexander's mother was a Jewish woman from the Midwest who taught him early on that getting a job was not necessary. His father, a married African-American lawyer who was born in Mississippi, was cold and unapproachable. As Keith grew up, he and his sister watched their mother prove her point about making a living on the fringes of society. A single parent, Anita Alexander supported her two biracial children by stealing and forging. The story is set in Chicago - but far from the South Side which had so many black residents that it was commonly known as Bronzeville. Keith was raised a Jew in a white, liberal community and, until he was a teenager, knew few black people. Considered intelligent but undisciplined by school officials, Keith nevertheless made good grades. However, by the age of eight years old, he had also become a thief. Over the next dozen years, Keith shirked opportunities in the square world, and instead tried to follow in his mother's footsteps even as his sister, Lin, moved further away from both of them. Eventually, Lin is accepted into the University of Chicago which leaves Keith alone with his mom. The two of them work together in schemes that range from eccentric (a castle built in their backyard and a human powered flying machine) to felonious (buying houses by giving the bank forged documents). Then Keith falls in love and, rather than lose his future wife, he decides to go straight and finds redemption as a father.