"Never before has black creative intelligence coincided so opportunely with the development of black pride, the advancement of political-cultural awareness, independence, and style to affect black art" wrote Virginia Hamilton in a 1975 article "High John Is Risen Again" … Nowhere is this "black creative intelligence" so evident as in Virginia Hamilton's own writing, first in M. C. Higgins The Great, and now in her latest book … Arilla Sun Down.

Virginia Hamilton, herself a descendant of slaves, is concerned with black identity. In M. C. Higgins The Great this concern is subtly explored in the history of the Higgins family. In Arilla Sun Down the concern is continued and deepened in the author's sophisticated treatment of intra-family relationships, the conflicts of adolescent choice, and sibling rivalry. Here the "interracial" Adams family is split between those who identify exclusively with one cultural component of their heritage against those who accept a...