Black Writers of the Founding Era (LOA #366), edited by James G. Basker and Nicole Seary, is a sweeping anthology that collects the voices of more than 100 Black writers from the decades surrounding the American Revolution. Through a wide range of primary sources—poems, letters, sermons, petitions, narratives, and more—the book reveals the richness and diversity of Black life in early America, including both enslaved and free individuals. It shows how Black Americans actively engaged with and challenged the era’s ideals of liberty and equality, using their writing to advocate for freedom, assert their humanity, and shape the political and cultural debates of the nation’s founding. We read and discussed three works in the book: Belinda Sutton’s 1783 Petition; 1799 Petition of Absolom Jones; A Narrative of the Life and Adventure of Venture by Venture Smith.