Deep in the Soul of Texas: An Anthology of Black Literature from the Lone Star State presents vivid firsthand accounts of resistance, perseverance, and triumph of the Black experience as the first-ever anthology of African American Texan writers. From Giddings poet Gwendolyn B. Bennett (1902–1981) to Beaumont native and intellectual Amilcar Shabazz, this anthology highlights the most prominent literary figures of each decade and features Texas’ leading African American writers of today.

Edited by Cary Clack, the first Black metro columnist at the San Antonio Express-News, this anthology represents an important attempt at uncovering and celebrating the roots of Black writing and writers from and about Texas. This collection of poetry, fiction, essays, drama, speeches, and memoir join to celebrate story, imagination, and language of the last 150 years of Texas history. Within each chapter, the anthology grows one step closer in addressing a longstanding question that looms over the Lone Star State: what does it mean to be Black in Texas?

Each of the five parts in this anthology features a different facet of Black history from escape and heritage to folklore and injustice. Illuminating the varied Black experience in Texas, this anthology fills a major gap in Texas literature. Deep in the Soul of Texas brings light to all Texans as it helps change conversations―not just about what it means to be Black in Texas but expanding conceptions of what being “a Texan” truly means.