Kathy A. Perkins is Associate Professor of Theater at University of Illinois where she heads the Theater Lighting Design Program. She is also the author of Black Female Playwrights: An Anthology of Plays before 1950 and co-editor of Contemporary Plays by Women of Color.Judith L. Stephens, Associate Professor of Speech Communication at Pennsylvania State University, Schuylkill, serves on the executive Board of the Black Theater Network. She has published articles on women in American theater in African American Review, Theatre Journal, Theatre Annual, Text and Performance Quarterly, and The Journal of American Drama and Theater.

"These lynching dramas may not present the picture that America wants to see of itself, but these visions cannot be ignored because they are grounded--not only in the truth of white racism's toxic effect on our national existence but also in the truth that there exists a contesting, collective response that is part of an on-going and continually building momentum." Theatre Journal "A unique, powerful collection worthy of high school and college classroom assignment and discussion." Bookwatch