Order Now:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Hearts Beating for Liberty: Women Abolitionists in the Old Northwest
This book brings to life the feisty Midwestern women who dared to challenge slavery at a time when most preferred to avoid the topic. It highlights remarkable individuals like Mary Brown Davis, who abandoned her slaveholding background to forge a place for herself in abolitionist politics; Laura Haviland, whose daring adventures on underground railroad caused the state of Kentucky to offer a $3,000 reward for her capture; Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, whose poetry inspired readers to boycott slave-made goods like sugar and cotton; and Sarah Otis Ernst, a wealthy and fearless organizer who cleverly pushed the southern-bordering Cincinnati closer towards antislavery.
Reviews
“This book…sheds light on two critical issues in U.S. history. It adds valuable information to our conceptualization of the abolition movement, and it also demonstrates the pre-Civil War foundation of women’s activism in the Old Northwest.”
—American Historical Review
“Robertson’s exhaustively researched and engagingly written work offers both a challenge to scholars of abolition and an opportunity to those interested in the history of the Old Northwest.”
—Journal of Illinois History
“Robertson has created a rich and detailed narrative of women in the abolitionist movement in parts of the midwest.”
—The Annals of Iowa
“This book makes an important contribution to the understanding of women’s participation in antebellum abolition. . . .Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.”
—Choice
“An important addition to the historiography of American abolitionism. . . .A substantive work of scholarship that enriches our understanding of the western women who participated in the antebellum abolitionist struggle.”
—The Journal of American History
Additional Reviews
Corey Brooks. Review of Robertson, Stacey M., Hearts Beating for Liberty: Women Abolitionists in the Old Northwest. H-SHEAR, H-Net Reviews. February, 2012
