A groundbreaking collective biography narrating the history of emancipation through the life stories of women of African descent in the Americas.

Elizabeth Catlett and the form of emancipation Joyce Tsai; Introduction Erica L. Ball, Tatiana Seijas and Terri L. Snyder; Part I. Claiming Emancipation during the Rise of New World Slavery: 1. Margarita de Sossa, sixteenth-century Puebla de los Ángeles, New Spain (Mexico) Chloe L. Ireton; 2. Paula de Eguiluz, seventeenth-century Puerto Rico, Cuba, and New Granada (Colombia) Nicole von Germeten; 3. Reytory Angola, seventeenth-century Manhattan (US) Susanah Shaw Romney; 4. Elizabeth Key, seventeenth-century Virginia (US) Taunya Lovell Banks; 5. Hannah Manena McKenney, late-seventeenth- and early-eighteenth-century Bermuda and New Providence, Bahamas Heather Miyano Kopelson; 6. Juana de Godinez, seventeenth-century Lima, Peru Michelle A. McKinley; Part II. Experiencing Freedom during Slavery's Expansion: 7. Judith and Hannah: eighteenth-century Florida, South Carolina, and Virginia (US) Honor Sachs; 8. Sarah Chauqum, eighteenth-century Rhode Island and Connecticut (US) Margaret Ellen Newell; 9. Marion, eighteenth-century Natchitoches, Louisiana (US) Sophie White; 10. Anna Maria Lopes de Brito, eighteenth-century Minas Gerais, Brazil Mariana Dantas; 11. Juana Ramírez, eighteenth-century Oaxaca, New Spain (Mexico) Sabrina Smith; 12. Juana María Álvarez, eighteenth-century New Granada (Colombia) Ana María Díaz Burgos; 13. María Hipólita Lozano, eighteenth-century Lima, Peru Tamara J. Walker; Part III. Envisaging Emancipation during Second Slavery: 14. Bessy Chambers, nineteenth-century Jamaica Sasha Turner; 15. Minerva, nineteenth-century Texas and Louisiana, US and Mexico Alice L. Baumgartner; 16. Cécile Fatiman and Petra Calabarí, late-eighteenth-century Haiti and mid-nineteenth-century Cuba Aisha K. Finch; 17. Mary Ellen Pleasant, nineteenth-century Massachusetts and California, US Kellie Carter Jackson; 18. Gabriela, nineteenth-century Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil Mariana Dias Paes; 19. Maria Firmina dos Reis, nineteenth-century Maranhão, Brazil Maria Helena Pereira Toledo Machado; Part IV. Enacting Emancipation in the Aftermath of Slavery: 20. María Remedios del Valle, nineteenth-century Argentina Erika Edwards and Florencia Guzmán; 21. Lumina Sophie, nineteenth-century Martinique Jacqueline Couti; 22. Emma Lane Coger, nineteenth-century Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri (US) Sharon E. Wood; 23. Laura E. Davis Titus, nineteenth-century Norfolk, Virginia, US Cassandra L. Newby-Alexander; 24. Carrie Williams Clifford, nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Ohio, US Cathleen D. Cahill; Bibliography; Index.