FREEDOM WAS IN SIGHT | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation

This graphic history of Reconstruction emphasizes the impact of slavery’s abolition and explores how Black Americans sought to build their lives in freedom. Using text and color illustrations, the book shows how the Civil War loosened enslavers’ grip on power, enslaved people bravely sought freedom, Black families searched for relatives sold away in the slave trade, and Americans debated the future of a fractured nation. Grounded in the history of Washington, DC, and the surrounding region, Freedom Was in Sight challenges Reconstruction’s conventional end point of 1877.

Addressing the difficult topics of lynching and police violence, the book features well-known figures such as Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells, while also drawing attention to Black women and men whom we should know much better. Among them are Jennie Dean, founder of a school for Black teens in Manassas, Virginia; William Calvin Chase, longtime editor of the Washington Bee newspaper, and Emma V. Brown, the book’s narrator and the first Black teacher in the Washington public schools.

Kate Masur is joining us on the Busboys stage to share more about the book, narrating the hopes and betrayals of a critical period in American history. Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Masur will be signing following the program.

This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of FREEDOM WAS IN SIGHT will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is in person and will not be livestreamed. 

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Kate Masur is a Board of Visitors Professor of History at Northwestern University and author, most recently, of Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction.

Host or Publisher Busboys and Poets