In this spring semester episode, Dr. Tamika Nunley, Associate Professor and Sandler Family Faculty Fellow at Cornell University, discusses her recent book, At the Threshold of Liberty: Women, Slavery, and Shifting Identities in Washington, D.C. In conversation with Alexia Hudson-Ward, editor-in-chief of Toward Inclusive Excellence, Tamika explores the various livelihoods and everyday struggles of Black women in the Washington D.C. area during the 19th century. Tamika reaches beyond the heroic narratives often highlighted during that time—the educated, philanthropists, civil rights leaders—to humanize and bring forth stories of Black women pursuing sex work, gambling, or illegal pursuits in the name of survival and forging their own liberties. In addition, she describes the documents she used to piece these narratives together, often pulling from accounts of First Ladies and police precinct records to reveal Black women and children in the archive. Further, Tamika underscores how Black women defined liberty for themselves, creating their own versions of freedom under a government that did not grant it. To close, Tamika offers a look into her forthcoming book, The Demands of Justice: Enslaved Women, Capital Crime, and Clemency in Early Virginia, and how writing the title during the early pandemic and George Floyd protests of 2020 inspired and influenced her work.

Episode theme music: Black is the Night by Jeris (c) copyright 2014 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. Ft: DJ Vadim (djvadim), NiGiD