Publisher’s Note

Throughout his lifetime, Dr. James Haskins published over one hundred books for youth and adult audiences. Often coauthored with his spouse Kathleen Haskins, these titles focused on topics ranging from biography to history, music to language, most centering the experiences and achievements of African Americans. The LibraryPress@UF is honored to present a new series of reissued works by Dr. Haskins that acknowledge his contributions as an author, scholar, and educator at the University of Florida while recontextualizing and enhancing his work for a new generation.

James S. Haskins LibraryPress@UF Series includes:

• The Cotton Club (2024)
• Scott Joplin: The Man Who Made Ragtime (2024)
• Barbara Jordan (2024)
• Fighting Shirley Chisholm (2024)

For each title, the LibraryPress@UF will produce an edition of the original text in eBook and PDF formats, with original or alternative images as allowed by copyright law and any prior agreements. Kathleen Haskins has written a prologue that accompanies each book in the series. Additionally, Fighting Shirley Chisholm includes a new scholarly introduction for contextualization. Books in this series have been edited to reflect current practices on publishing hate speech and known slurs, where the first letter of the word is followed by asterisks. This allows us to ensure that the complicated history surrounding these words is not erased, but readers are not confronted with the full display of hate speech.

LibraryPress@UF, 2024