Book excerpt: Since the age of slavery, the story of the African American people has been filled with tragic circumstances, injustice, and hardship. Dr. Oyeleye examines the history of African Americans in this country in the US from the Civil War through Reconstruction, segregation, social programs, and the Civil Rights Movement to the present, providing his theories of the causes of these difficult circumstances and how they can be overcome in order to create a level playing field for all American people to thrive and succeed in the land of unlimited opportunity.