Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted (1892) is a novel by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. One of the first novels published by an African American woman, Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted is a story of liberation set during the American Civil War that deals with such themes as abolition, miscegenation, and passing.

In North Carolina, a Union Army regiment welcomes a group of escaped slaves into its midst. Led by Robert Johnson and Tom Anderson, the fugitives appeal to the Union commander on behalf of a woman named Iola Leroy, who remains enslaved in town. Leroy, despite being born free, was forced into slavery due to her mixed racial heritage. Her father Eugene, a wealthy slaveowner, set Iola’s mother free in order to marry her and start a family. When he died from a sudden bout of yellow fever, Eugene unwittingly left his family in grave danger, and Marie and her children were soon torn from freedom by Eugene’s spiteful relatives. Although Iola had been sent North to study at a seminary, she is tricked into returning to the South and sold away from her family. Having told her story, Johnson and Anderson join up with the Union commander and his regiment to fight for Iola’s freedom. Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted, which inspired Zora Neale Hurston and Ida B. Wells, is a groundbreaking work of African American fiction and a definitive masterpiece from a pioneer in her craft.

This edition of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted is a classic of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.

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With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.