The Bone and Sinew of the Land: America's Forgotten Black Pioneers and the Struggle for Equality

The story of America's forgotten black pioneers, who escaped slavery, settled the frontier, and proved that racial equality was possible even as the country headed toward civil war. The American frontier is one of our most cherished and enduring national images. We think of the early settlers who tamed the wilderness and built the bones of our great country as courageous, independent--and white. In this groundbreaking work of deep historical research, Anna-Lisa Cox shows that this history simply isn't accurate. In fact, she has found a stunning number of black settlements on the frontier--in the thousands. Though forgotten today, these homesteads were a matter of national importance at the time; their mere existence challenged rationalizations for slavery and pushed the question toward a crisis--one that was not resolved until the eruption of the Civil War. Blending meticulous detail with lively storytelling, Cox brings historical recognition to the brave people who managed not just to secure their freedom but begin a battle that is still going on today--a battle for equality.

About the Author :
Anna-Lisa Cox is an independent historian, a fellow at Harvard University's Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, and a research associate at the Smithsonian. She has won numerous awards for her research, and her work on the subject of this book is featured in the "Power of Place" exhibit at the National Museum of African American History. She is the author of A Stronger Kinship: One Town's Extraordinary Story of Hope and Faith. She lives in Michigan.

Review :
"The Bone and Sinew of the Land explores how black settlers, many of them slaves who had bought their freedom, settled in what is now the Midwest and established thriving farm communities that were threatened by violence and injustice."--Columbus Dispatch "Cox provides a moving and necessary corrective to American pioneer history." --Booklist "Today, evidence of the pioneering African-American presence exists only here and there in place names, still-functioning churches and local lore. The Bone and Sinew of the Land takes a step toward remembering it."--BookPage "The Bone and Sinew of the Landis a valuable contribution toward understanding the complex history of race in America."--Shepherd Express "The Bone and Sinew of the Land unearths and shines a light on a crucial but untold African American and American history that parallels and complicates the well-known story of the Underground Railroad. Cox convincingly reframes the symbolic importance of American pioneers by proving how free black families and communities were shaping their own destinies in America's first frontier of the nineteenth century. Free black people were creating and framing their own destinies across a wide geography through a deep connection to land ownership and politics. This work will not only influence scholarship. It should also deeply shape public history and public conversations from local historic houses to sites to national institutions."--Paul Gardullo, curator, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History andCulture "In this engrossing narrative, historian Cox restores attention to the role of African-Americans in shaping both the frontier and early- to mid-19th-century American political life... Cox's book tells a story worth recovering, and it will interest anyone wanting to learn more about the lives of free black Americans before the Civil War."--Publishers Weekly "Recent scholarship on the history of slavery, white supremacy, and domestic terrorism has expanded well beyond the bounds of the South, and Cox has made an excellent contribution with her latest book... A must-read for gaining a deeper understanding of the history of racism in the Midwest, particularly present-day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin."--Library Journal "The journey of America's Black pioneers is a story that remains unknown to Americans like the frontiers they settled. Starting in the earliest days of the republic, these brave men and women built new lives far away from the White enslavers who doubted them, threatened them, and attacked them. This groundbreaking work of research is a beautifully written testament to their bold courage, to their trailblazing strength."--Ibram X. Kendi, New York Times bestselling authorof Stamped from the Beginning "Through ingenious research and a generous sensibility, Anna-Lisa Cox captures the hidden stories of African American farmers who fought for equality and justice against virulent white supremacy. Her heartfelt, lyrical narrative brings the bones and sinews of black frontier families back to life, showing how their idealistic struggles helped to shape the Midwest, and the nation."--Peter H. Wood, author of Black Majority and Strange New Land "Tracing the free black families who settled the nation's first frontier, the great Northwest Territory, Anna-Lisa Cox convincingly shows that African American history has always been interwoven with the pioneer experience in America. At the same time, she reveals the blurred, often dangerous lines between freedom and bondage even in the territories that the Founding Fathers established from the beginning to be beyond the reach of America's original sin: slavery. In introducing us to the Grier and Lyle families, among others for whom land was the dream, Cox uncovers a rich history that may surprise even those most devoted to the study of African American history. The Bone and Sinew of the Land is a revelation of primary historical research that is written with the beauty and empathic powers of a novel."--Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard University