Freedom's Daughters: How a Generation of Black Women Resisted Oppression Through Literacy and Education

From bestselling author Celeste Headlee, an urgent and eye-opening story of the women who risked everything to ensure a generation of Black Americans had the right to read.In the waning days of the antebellum South, millions of African Americans were suddenly released from enslavement. But they soon realized that "freedom" was not free; they were subject to hundreds of laws aimed at preventing them from voting and, in many cases, learning. Were it not for the work of an exceptional group of women-activists, educators, mothers, organizers-the foundations for Black education might never have been laid. With Freedom's Daughters, Headlee set out to write into the record book the untold stories of these remarkable women. As a journalist who spent her career in public media, Headlee has long championed unheard voices and sought to tell the stories of those whose contributions have gone unacknowledged. But this project was fueled by an even deeper connection: Carrie Still Shepperson-one of th