Prison life in the 1930s featuring a white man incarcerated for robbery. The novel is based on the experience of its black author and deals with violence and male love. This edition is the unpublished original, a sanitized version having been published in 1953 under the title, Cast the First Stone.

With Harriet Tubman as her guide, Cassie retraces the steps escaping slaves took on the Underground Railroad in order to reunite with her younger brother.

A black family living in Mississippi during the Depression of the 1930s is faced with prejudice and discrimination which its children do not understand.