“An indispensable contribution to mapping the psychic realities, language patterns, and ideological matrix of late nineteenth-century middle-class African American women.”—Legacy
“Maillard deserves our thanks for this impressive volume.”—Journal of Southern History
“The black Americans highlighted in these letters refuse to make matters of racial denigration the primary issue of their everyday conversations, actions, and identities. Instead, the written exchanges show African American women tending to their family and friends not as an escape from injustice but precisely to value the labor and lives that otherwise might be disregarded.”—Journal of Family History