Our Inheritance

An early 20th century polemic advocating civil rights, dignity, and due process for Black people written by Zachary Withers, an African American resident of the Elmhurst neighborhood of Sacramento, and printed by the book-publishing wing of the long-running Oakland Tribune newspaper. It seems to have enjoyed decent distribution (reputedly by a company out of Portland, Oregon, The Advocate) and got positive write-ups in a few Bay Area newspapers as well as Chicago's The Broad Ax. The book proved to be the high-water mark of a series of meetings in 1909 by Black activists trying to establish a Y.M.C.A. for their community, which ultimately did not make it beyond the planning stage. We could find no evidence that the author's purported other work Slavery Days was published. Photo frontispiece of the author.