Discover the amazing story of Harrisonburg, Virginia's beloved teacher, Lucy Frances Simms. Born into slavery just a few years before the Civil War, in freedom Ms. Simms chose a path of public service, traveling across the state to earn her teaching credentials at Hampton Institute, and then returning to the Shenandoah Valley where she spent nearly six decades guiding generations of African-American children in the Harrisonburg and Rockingham County area. Although the better part of a century has passed since her death, the accolades continue for this pioneering education whose strength of character and leadership provide a powerful story that continues to resonate today.

Spanning three centuries, this book demonstrates a variety of archival practices to tell more expansive stories about Black women. It examines the life writing, records, and ephemera of Black women such as political reformer Sydna E. R. Francis, educators Edmonia Highgate and Lucy F. Simms, travel writer Nancy Prince, poet June Jordan, novelist Jesmyn Ward, and self-liberator Matilda Hawkins Tyler, enslaved by her own Jesuit church at St. Louis University. The contributors use oral histories, data visualization, and biographical documents and narratives to map these and countless anonymized stories across geographic locations. Tracking the voluntary and forced movement of Black women alongside the places and spaces they inhabit gives us richer, more contextualized histories. The authors probe and answer how these women moved through and beyond systemic barriers and physical dangers while placing themselves at the center of change. The stories crystalize the joys, horrors, quotidian experiences, and endurance of marginalized lives. Each chapter illustrates ways to build archival and theoretical spaces that interrogate the many ways that Black women have navigated formidable and dangerous lands. This interdisciplinary volume will be of interest to students and researchers of comparative literature, gender studies, and Black studies. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of a/b: Auto/Biography Studies.

Literary agent and amateur sleuth Lila Wilkins is back to seal the deal in the New York Times bestselling Novel Idea Mystery series. Lila is showcasing some of her biggest authors at a bridal expo. But when the joyous event turns deadly, she’ll have to figure out who penned the perfect crime... The Novel Idea Literary Agency has planned a wedding-themed week for Inspiration Valley, celebrating not only North Carolina’s best vendors but also some of the agency’s most popular bridal books. The fact that Lila can use the event to plan her own impending nuptials is just the icing on the cake. But wedding bells turn to warning bells when Lila finds a dead man facedown in the frosting. Soon it’s discovered that the victim was connected to several Novel Idea authors, all of whom quickly become suspects in the case. It’s up to Lila and her fellow agents to find the real killer before one of their clients winds up scribbling stories from behind bars...