They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America Cover:Paperback NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD

NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • A deep and compassionate novel about a young man who returns to 1940s Cajun country to visit a Black youth on death row for a crime he didn't commit

"Willow Chance subtly drew me into her head and her life

the story’s young narrator decides not to leave home again

he soon joins her with cautious curiosity

A New York Times Notable Book | Lambda Literary Award Winner | Long-listed for the PEN Open Book Award

They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America Cover:Paperback NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDA landmark . . . brilliantly [demonstrates] has that there is far more to black history than the slave trade.John A. Williams They Came Before Columbus reveals a compelling, dramatic, and superbly detailed documentation of the presence and legacy of Africans in ancient America. Examining navigation and shipbuilding; cultural analogies between Native Americans and Africans; the transportation of plants, animals, and textiles between the continents; and