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

WBUR

Published October 7, 2026 at 12:01 PM EDT

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

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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