Sign-In
Cart
The Light Keepers: Black Women, History, and the Long Fight Against Empire
Hardcover
Black American HistoryGeneral World HistoryHistoriography
Publisher Price: $32.99
ISBN13: 9781324093824
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: Feb 23 2027
Pages: 320
Language: English
Across centuries, Black women have invented means to preserve what official history could not: friendship albums, kitchen-table philosophy, blogs, playlists, oral histories, and archives held in the mind. In The Light Keepers, Jessica Marie Johnson traces this radical tradition through the centuries-long prism of American empire, from the holds of slave ships to contemporary digital worlds, showing that there is nothing finished or settled about how Black women understand time, trauma, and survival.
Blending personal narrative, archival fragments, and ancestral wisdom, Johnson reframes Black women not as subjects of history but as archivists and historians. Against erasure, against shame, against death itself, Black women have transformed the bitterest waters of history into tools for living, loving, and imagining freedom. The Light Keepers offers readers a daring new way to think about the past--and a powerful lesson in how knowledge is made when survival demands it.
Also from
Johnson, Jessica Marie
Wicked Flesh: Black Women, Intimacy, and Freedom in the Atlantic World
Johnson, Jessica Marie
Hardcover
Also in
Black American History
Working The Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African American Healing
Lee, Michele Elizabeth
Paperback
The Secret War Against Hate: American Resistance to Antisemitism and White Supremacy
Ross, Steven J.
Hardcover
Two Ships: Jamestown 1619, Plymouth 1620, and the Struggle for the Soul of America
Reynolds, David S.
Hardcover
Black Out Loud: The Revolutionary History of Black Comedy from Vaudeville to '90s Sitcoms
Bennett, Geoff
Hardcover
The Ballad of the Fugitive William Parker: A True Tale of Love, Murder, Treason, and Ordinary Folks Who Saved America
Aptowicz, Cristin O'Keefe
Hardcover
The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women's Magic
Stewart, Lindsey
Hardcover
How Bright the Path Grows: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the March on Washington
Chatelain, Marcia
Hardcover
How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
Smith, Clint
Paperback
Nature Knows No Color-Line: Research into the Negro Ancestry in the White Race
Rogers, J. a.
Paperback
The Humanity Archive: Recovering the Soul of Black History from a Whitewashed American Myth
Fowler, Jermaine
Paperback
Our Minds Were Always Free: A History of How Black Brilliance Was Exploited--And the Fight to Retake Control
Davis, Lisa E.
Hardcover
Freedom's Daughters: How a Generation of Black Women Resisted Oppression Through Literacy and Education
Headlee, Celeste
Hardcover
Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge
Dunbar, Erica Armstrong
Paperback
Redeem a Nation: The Century-Long Battle to Restore the Soul of America
Solomon-Simmons, Damario
Hardcover
Until the Last Gun Is Silent: A Story of Patriotism, the Vietnam War, and the Fight to Save America's Soul
Delmont, Matthew F.
Hardcover
Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's Capital
Asch, Chris Myers
Musgrove, George Derek
Paperback
Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church
Sack, Kevin
Hardcover
Jefferson's Wolf: A Founding Father's Troubling Answer to the Problem of Slavery
Dierksheide, Christa
Guyatt, Nicholas
Hardcover
History by a Hair: Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings & Solving a 200-Year-Old Mystery
Kurin, Richard
Hardcover
Original Sins: The (Mis)Education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism
Ewing, Eve L.
Paperback
Injustice Town: A Corrupt City, a Wrongly Convicted Man, and a Struggle for Freedom
Tulsky, Rick
Hardcover
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race
Shetterly, Margot Lee
Paperback
African-American Heritage Cookbook: Traditional Recipes and Fond Remembrances from Alabama's Renowned Tuskegee Institute
Tillery, Carolyn Q.
Hardcover
The People Can Fly: American Promise, Black Prodigies, and the Greatest Miracle of All Time
Bennett, Joshua
Hardcover
American Sirens: The Incredible Story of the Black Men Who Became America's First Paramedics
Hazzard, Kevin
Paperback
The Legend of Wyatt Outlaw: From Reconstruction Through Black Lives Matter
Boggs, Belle
Allen, Sylvester, Jr.
Hardcover
African American Herbalism: A Practical Guide to Healing Plants and Folk Traditions
Vandyke, Lucretia
Paperback
The Crown's Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery in the Americas
Newman, Brooke N.
Hardcover
American Soul: The Black History of Food in the United States - Including 40 Recipes
Malik, Anela
Wilson, Renae
Hardcover
Learn Black American Sign Language: A History and Complete Beginner's Guide with Over 200 Words and Phrases
Jones Jr, Franklin R.
Hardcover
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals
Hartman, Saidiya
Paperback
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
Kendi, Ibram X.
Paperback
The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women's Magic
Stewart, Lindsey
Paperback
Black Fortunes: The Story of the First Six African Americans Who Survived Slavery and Became Millionaires
Wills, Shomari
Paperback
How We Get Free (Updated 2nd Edition): Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective
Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta
Paperback
When It's Darkness on the Delta: How America's Richest Soil Became Its Poorest Land
Eubanks, W. Ralph
Hardcover
Black Marxism, Revised and Updated Third Edition: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition
Robinson, Cedric J.
Paperback
Thy Will Be Done: George Washington's Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory
Marks, John Garrison
Hardcover
Morningside: The 1979 Greensboro Massacre and the Struggle for an American City's Soul
Shetterly, Aran
Hardcover
The Black Family Who Built America: The McKissacks, Two Centuries of Daring Pioneers
McKissack Daniel, Cheryl
Hardcover
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race
Shetterly, Margot Lee
Hardcover
If I Can Get Home This Fall: A Story of Love, Loss, and a Cause in the Civil War
Alexander, Tyler
Hardcover
Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party
Bloom, Joshua
Martin, Waldo E., Jr.
Paperback
Shattered Dreams, Infinite Hope: A Tragic Vision of the Civil Rights Movement
Terry, Brandon M.
Hardcover
How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
Smith, Clint
Hardcover
Unseen: Unpublished Black History from the New York Times Photo Archives
Canedy, Dana
Eveleigh, Darcy
Cave, Damien
Hardcover
The Painter's Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists Who Championed the American Revolution
Anishanslin, Zara
Hardcover
Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race
Shetterly, Margot Lee
Paperback
A History of the World in Six Plagues: How Contagion, Class, and Captivity Shaped Us, from Cholera to Covid-19
Bonhomme, Edna
Paperback
Languages of Home: Essays on Writing, Hoop, and American Lives 1975-2025
Wideman, John Edgar
Hardcover
Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Nineteenth-Century America
Hartman, Saidiya
Paperback
W. E. B. Du Bois's Data Portraits: Visualizing Black America
The W. E. B. Du Bois Center at the University of Massachuset
Hardcover
Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019
Kendi, Ibram X.
Blain, Keisha N.
Paperback
Cash on the Block: The Broken Promise of Reinvestment in Black Urban Neighborhoods
Satter, Beryl
Hardcover
Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families
Giesberg, Judith
Hardcover
Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers: 1840 to the Present
Willis, Deborah
Hardcover
Mother Emanuel: Two Centuries of Race, Resistance, and Forgiveness in One Charleston Church
Sack, Kevin
Paperback
The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits
Miles, Tiya
Paperback
Go Back and Fetch It: Recovering Early Black Music in the Americas for Fiddle and Banjo
Gaddy, Kristina R.
Giddens, Rhiannon
Paperback
Don't Let Nobody Turn You Around: How the Black Church's Public Witness Leads Us Out of the Culture War
Giboney, Justin
Hardcover
Hannah Mary Tabbs and the Disembodied Torso: A Tale of Race, Sex, and Violence in America
Gross, Kali Nicole
Paperback
Nature Knows No Color-Line: Research into the Negro Ancestry in the White Race
Rogers, J. a.
Hardcover
Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families
Giesberg, Judith
Paperback
The Five Blessings of Ifá: Reclaiming Black Futures Through Afro-Indigenous Spirituality
Felder, Gabrielle
Paperback
The Fight of His Life: Joe Louis's Battle for Freedom During World War II
Roberts, Randy
Smith, Johnny
Hardcover
The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States
Johnson, Walter
Paperback
When The World Was Black, Part One: The Untold History of the World's First Civilizations Prehistoric Culture
Understanding, Supreme
Hardcover
Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House
Keckley, Elizabeth
Paperback
Black Panther Woman: The Political and Spiritual Life of Ericka Huggins
Phillips, Mary Frances
Hardcover
Harriet Tubman: Military Scout and Tenacious Visionary: From Her Roots in Ghana to Her Legacy on the Eastern Shore
Wiesen, Jean Marie
Daniels, Rita
Hardcover
Picturing Black History: Photographs and Stories That Changed the World
Breyfogle, Nicholas B.
Edmeier, Daniela
Johnson, Damarius
Hardcover
Talentos Ocultos: La Genialidad No Tiene Color. La Fuerza No Tiene Género. El Valor No Tiene Límite.
Shetterly, Margot Lee
Paperback
Blk Mkt Vintage: Reclaiming Objects and Curiosities That Tell Black Stories
Handy, Jannah
Stewart, Kiyanna
Hardcover
The Black Utopians: Searching for Paradise and the Promised Land in America
Robertson, Aaron
Paperback
The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis
Smilios, Maria
Hardcover
Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction
Masur, Kate
Paperback
The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North
Adams, Michelle
Hardcover
Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance
Hall, Alvin
Paperback
Hidden Hospitality: Untold Stories of Black Hotel, Motel, and Resort Owners from the Pioneer Days to the Civil Rights Era
Stovall, Calvin
Hardcover
The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America
Kahrl, Andrew W.
Paperback
One Man's Freedom: Goldwater, King, and the Struggle Over an American Ideal
Buccola, Nicholas
Hardcover
The Black Antifascist Tradition: Fighting Back from Anti-Lynching to Abolition
Hope, Jeanelle K.
Mullen, Bill V.
Paperback
Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America
Taylor, Candacy
Paperback
The Survivors of the Clotilda: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the American Slave Trade
Durkin, Hannah
Paperback
The Containment: Detroit, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North
Adams, Michelle
Paperback
A Perilous Path: Talking Race, Inequality, and the Law
Stevenson, Bryan
Ifill, Sherrilyn
Lynch, Loretta
Hardcover
The Black List 1526 -2022: An Abridged History of Structural Racism in America
Bynum, Marquis
Paperback
Integration at Second Base: Jackie Robinson and the Quest for Black Citizenship
Eisenstadt, Peter
Hardcover
African American Herbalism & Magick: A Practical Guide to Healing with Rituals, Plants and Ancestral Spells
Brought Alive, History
Paperback
Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist's Memoir of the Jim Crow South, with a Foreword by Bryan Stevenson
Kelly, Erin I.
Rembert, Winfred
Paperback
How Bright the Path Grows: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the March on Washington (Large Print Edition)
Chatelain, Marcia
Paperback
The Organ Thieves: The Shocking Story of the First Heart Transplant in the Segregated South
Jones, Chip
Paperback