Reginald McKnight's stories chronicle the experience of African Americans struggling to establish, and understand, their cultural identity within the context of a racially divided society. Often the stories involve black adolescent characters trying, with varying degrees of success, to cope with the personal pain that results from a confrontation with broader societal forces bearing down upon them. At times racially situated alienation is countered by an enhanced awareness of the value of the African American experience; at other times characters are left victimized. Occasionally the racial stereotyping and discrimination of the dominant white culture compels black characters to turn against themselves. In a brief interview for Contemporary Authors, regarding his work, McKnight said: "I think very generally my work deals with the deracinated African-Americans who came of age after the civil rights struggle. These are people who are at the front lines of the struggle for human rights...