A great collection of four short stories about four different experiences of black lives.

“Boy on a Train” and “The Black Ball” were about raising black kids, who should be blissful and carefree children, but start to realize that they are “black” kids, and that startling realization suddenly throws them off that carefree train.

In “Hymie’s Bull”, Ellison uses vernacular language to describe how black men carefully tread as they pass by white officers or “bulls”.

The last story “In A Strange Country” was probably my favorite, here’s a black American soldier in WW2 in Wales being suspicious of white Welshmen welcoming him as a brother in arms.

The way Ellison writes these raw vignettes is marvelous, at first he draws you in slowly and then suddenly “slaps” you across the face with truth. Loved it.