“Blackbird” is an anthology of opinion pages writer Betty Winston Baye’s Louisville Courier-Journal columns, complemented with a chapter of longer-form articles, travelogues from Ghana and Cuba. “Betty Baye’s columns, like the writings of Zora Neale Hurston, have the common touch,” wrote colleague DeWayne Wickham. “She’s an authentic voice of urban American – and uncompromising and unyielding champion of the downtrodden. Her column is her drum, which she uses to sound the alarm whenever danger lurks near the people and ideas she holds dear. And for this we should all be grateful.”