Cotton Mather's Spanish Lessons: A Story of Language, Race, and Belonging in the Early Americas

to the beginning of the explosion of creativity in the Black Caribbean” (6). None of the essays actually addresses Hurston as this kind of mediating figure. That oversight speaks to a larger question that the volume does not answer. What exactly is gained by reading contemporary Caribbean women writers within the context of earlier African American women’s literature, and vice versa? Several of the essays gesture toward pedagogy with references to the challenges of teaching these texts, and Jefferson-James’s conclusion discusses the value of pairing Toni Morrison with early African American literature. A second iteration of this project might address teaching more fully by providing, for example, full lesson plans and assessment strategies. Overall, this is a good volume that would be especially useful secondary reading in undergraduate classrooms.