At the Threshold of Liberty

“A focused study on the way that Black women have transcended slavery. . . . Well-researched.”—Library Journal

“Nunley makes an incredible contribution to the field of the study of African American women in the nineteenth century. She leaves her readers with an irrefutable understanding of the centrality of Black women in the establishment of the capital’s reputation as a site of liberty and justice for all. . . . [An] impressively cohesive study exemplifies the duality of Black women’s and girls' lived experiences in the capital at a pivotal turning point in the political project of nation-making.”—Black Perspectives

“In this excellent book Nunley offers a roadmap for historians to take Black women’s visions of freedom as seriously as their successes.”—Washington History

“Beautifully illustrates how individual desires for self-possession, family, and community, formed before the Civil War, pushed African American women to work toward a world that more closely resembled the ones they imagined.”—Journal of Southern History

“Extensively and impressively researched. . . . [At the Threshold of Liberty] is extremely rewarding, as the reader gains a sense of the social and cultural geography of Washington, D.C., and the crucial networks that African American women created and sustained as they made themselves on their own terms.”—North Carolina Historical Review

“A major achievement that makes critical contributions to historians’ understandings of Black women’s long-term battles for liberty in the
District of Columbia. It will be of great interest to scholars of slavery, race,
gender, and the Atlantic world . . . . Nunley expertly unpacks archival silences, fragments, and discursive violence in the existing records.”—William and Mary Quarterly

“An important, engaging, and meticulously researched text about 19th-century African American women in Washington, D.C. . . . Evidence of this work’s significant contribution to existing scholarship is undeniable.”—Coordinating Council for Women in History

“Tamika Nunley’s wonderful book puts remarkable women at the center of African Americans’ struggle for full freedom in the nation’s capital.” — Chris Myers Asch, co-author of Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation’s Capital

“Tamika Y. Nunley has written a nuanced, humane, and powerful history of Black women’s freedom-making in Washington, D.C. At the Threshold of Liberty is a major contribution.” — William G. Thomas III, author of A Question of Freedom: The Families Who Challenged Slavery from the Nation’s Founding to the Civil War