Black Man's Burden

by Mack Reynolds

"Black Man's Burden" by Mack Reynolds is a science fiction novel published in 1962. In a near-future North Africa, sociologist Dr. Homer Crawford leads an all-black team posing as itinerant smiths, secretly spreading Western ideals of equality and liberty among nomadic tribes. They attribute their teachings to El Hassan, a fictional visionary leader. When the Reunited Nations orders Crawford to find this mysterious El Hassan, the mission forces him to confront dangerous betrayals, assassination attempts, and a troubling question: who should El Hassan truly be?