Black prosperity has provoked white resentment that can make life exhausting for people of color—and it has led to the undoing of policies that have nurtured Black advancement.

In 1900, Winkfield, for example, was badly bruised and his mount suffered cracked ribs in an incident at Harlem Race Track, near Chicago, Ill., the result of intimidatory tactics by white riders.

I can't remember ever asking my brother what it was like to be Black in a white family. We talked about race, the segregation that still divides our cities, and maps onto inequities in wealth ...

The bond between Sayers, who’s Black, and Piccolo, who’s white, as well as their wives, became a beacon of hope during the civil rights era. It grows stronger when Piccolo gets horrible news.

A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 30, 2023, Section A, Page 15 of the New York edition with the headline: Black Son Helped Shape Race Views, Johnson Says.