Shadow and Act

Title: Shadow and Act

Author: Ralph Ellison

Publisher: Vintage Books USA

Publication Year: 1972

ISBN:  0394717163

 "The Shadow and the Act" is Ellison's response to several films that depict African Americans in new, though limited, ways. "The Way It Is" summarizes an interview with a middle-aged black woman in an effort to chronicle the effects of World War II, poverty, and discrimination on the average African American.