A review by barefootsong
Daughters of a Nation: A Black Suffragette Historical Romance Anthology, by Kianna Alexander, Alyssa Cole, Lena Hart, Piper Huguley
4.0
I liked two of the stories, really liked one, and didn't like one as much, so I'd probably average it to 3.5 for the anthology. I'm rounding up because these are all important and interesting stories, although this anthology could really have used another round of editing. Lots of typos and a few instances of unclear writing. TBH, these errors kept me from being able to fall as deeply into some of the stories as I wanted to, but the last story didn't have as many and was also my favorite story, so the 4 stars is mostly for that one.
The last story in here is Alyssa Cole's "Let Us Dream" which is painfully relevant to today's politics. Set in 1917, this story takes place on the eve of women winning suffrage in New York state and also a few months after the enactment of the Immigration Act of 1917, which, in addition to imposing literacy tests on immigrants over 16 and creating a slew of "undesirable" categories largely having to do with sickness and mental health, also barred immigration from south Asian countries. The hero, Amir, is an undocumented Muslim Indian who is trying to find a place for himself in a country that doesn't want "his kind." The heroine, Bertha, owns a night club/brothel in New York and, after being rejected by the formal women's suffrage groups for not being "respectable," she uses her power and influence to get out the vote among the "seedy underbelly" of the city. Cole does a great job of bringing to life the characters, the setting, and the story in a short space, which I felt the other three stories struggled with.
The first story takes place in 1868 Nebraska (just after it became a state) and the middle two both take place in 1881, one in Atlanta and one in North Carolina, and both deal at least partially with the assassination of President Garfield and what effect that had on Black Americans. As I said, these are all interesting settings and provide important historical context for how much work it took to win all women the right to vote, and the extra effort that Black women put in. None of these historical backdrops are things you learn about in general history classes, so I learned a lot and I really appreciated that, even if I didn't like all of the stories as much and really wish they had been better edited.
The last story in here is Alyssa Cole's "Let Us Dream" which is painfully relevant to today's politics. Set in 1917, this story takes place on the eve of women winning suffrage in New York state and also a few months after the enactment of the Immigration Act of 1917, which, in addition to imposing literacy tests on immigrants over 16 and creating a slew of "undesirable" categories largely having to do with sickness and mental health, also barred immigration from south Asian countries. The hero, Amir, is an undocumented Muslim Indian who is trying to find a place for himself in a country that doesn't want "his kind." The heroine, Bertha, owns a night club/brothel in New York and, after being rejected by the formal women's suffrage groups for not being "respectable," she uses her power and influence to get out the vote among the "seedy underbelly" of the city. Cole does a great job of bringing to life the characters, the setting, and the story in a short space, which I felt the other three stories struggled with.
The first story takes place in 1868 Nebraska (just after it became a state) and the middle two both take place in 1881, one in Atlanta and one in North Carolina, and both deal at least partially with the assassination of President Garfield and what effect that had on Black Americans. As I said, these are all interesting settings and provide important historical context for how much work it took to win all women the right to vote, and the extra effort that Black women put in. None of these historical backdrops are things you learn about in general history classes, so I learned a lot and I really appreciated that, even if I didn't like all of the stories as much and really wish they had been better edited.