The second edition of African American National Biography has expanded this landmark scholarship from eight to ten volumes. Each of the nearly 5, 000 entries are written and signed by distinguished scholars under the direction of Editors in Chief Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. The African American National Biography is the most significant and expansive collection of black lives in print today. This essential scholarly reference work presents history through the lives of its people, profiling the famous, infamous, and little-known figures in African American history.