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'Freedom's Daughters': Journalist Celeste Headlee profiles her great grandmother and others

The cover of "Freedom's Daughters" and author Celeste Headlee. (Courtesy of Flatiron Books and Tamzin B. Smith)
Courtesy of Flatiron Books and Tamzin B. Smith
The cover of "Freedom's Daughters" and author Celeste Headlee. (Courtesy of Flatiron Books and Tamzin B. Smith)

Host Robin Young speaks with journalist and Here & Now guest host Celeste Headlee about her new book “Freedom’s Daughters: How a Generation of Black Women Resisted Oppression Through Literacy and Education.”

It tells the story of her great grandmother, Carrie Still Shepperson, who was one of a group of extraordinary Black women who educated and organized former enslaved people and their families following the Civil War.

Book excerpt: ‘Freedom’s Daughters’

By Celeste Headlee

Reprinted with permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2026 WBUR

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