A landmark anthology of full-length works by Black American women writers of the 19th century including Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Harriet Jacobs, and Mary Weston Fordham-edited and with an introduction by C.S.R. Calloway.

Shadows Uplifted collects and celebrates the vibrant and diverse work of these often unsung Black female writers, meticulously preserving their words while making them newly accessible to modern readers of all genders and backgrounds.

Collected here for the first time in a single volume are:

Frances E. W. Harper’s 1892 novel Iola Leroy, an examination of multiracial identity within one family during and after the Civil War. Julia C. Collins’s 1865 novel The Curse of Caste, written the very year the Civil War ended and chronicling the lives of a mother and her daughter during the antebellum age. A. E. Johnson’s 1894 novel The Hazeley Family, telling the story of Flora Hazeley and the impact of her moral standings.

Let us continue to uplift such shadows in our history, allowing them their corporeal bodies, flesh, blood, and melanated skin. Let us continue to uplift Black women: supporting and honoring their stories, their art, and their existence. - C.S.R. Calloway