“Iola Leroy – Shadows Uplifted” is a 1893 novel by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. Set to the backdrop of the Civil War, the story revolves around Iola Leroy, daughter of a wealthy slaveholder who emancipated and married a young slave called Marie after she nursed him through an illness. The children’s African ancestry was hidden from them until the death of their father, after which point Marie and her children were once again legally considered slaves. One of the first books to be written by an African American women, “Iola Leroy” is a must read for those with an interest in American history. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825–1911) was a suffragist, abolitionist, poet, public speaker, educator, and writer. She was among the first African American women to be published in the United States and belonged to a number of progressive organizations, including the Colored Section of the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Women’s Christian Temperance Union and the National Association of Colored Women. Other notable works by this author include: “Forest Leaves” (1845), “Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects” (1854), and “The Two Offers” (1859). Read & Co. Classics is proudly republishing this classic novel now in a new edition complete with an introductory chapter by George F. Bragg.