Queen Mother: Black Nationalism, Reparations, and the Untold Story of Audley Moore

Description: FINALIST: NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR BIOGRAPHY - A LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF 2025
From an award-winning historian of Black radical politics comes the definitive biography of Audley Moore--mother of modern Black Nationalism and trailblazer in the fight for reparations

"Queen Mother is a monumental achievement, a rendering worthy of the great Audley Moore herself."--Jelani Cobb, Dean of the Columbia School of Journalism

In the world of Black radical politics, the name Audley Moore commands unquestioned respect. Across the nine decades of her life, Queen Mother Moore distinguished herself as a leading progenitor of Black Nationalism, the founder of the modern reparations movement, and, from her Philadelphia and Harlem homes, a mentor to some of America's most influential Black activists.

And yet, she is far less remembered than many of her peers and protégés--Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, and Muhammad Ahmad, to name just a few--and the ephemera of her life are either lost or plundered. In Queen Mother, celebrated writer and historian Ashley D. Farmer restores Moore's faded portrait, delivering the first ever definitive account of her life and enduring legacy.

Deeply researched and richly detailed, Queen Mother is more than just the biography of an American icon. It's a narrative history of 20th-century Black radicalism, told through the lens of the woman whose grit and determination sustained the movement.

Review Quotes: WINNER OF THE TEXAS INSTITUTE OF LETTERS MOST SIGNIFICANT SCHOLARLY BOOK AWARD

"Laudable . . . meticulous . . . a portrait of a woman with uncanny savvy and flexibility . . . . Queen Mother establishes [Moore] as a titan in her own right, a central influence in nearly a century of global Black-liberation struggles."
--The Atlantic

"A sensitively written take on a century of Black history, and an absorbing account of a Black woman who survived the ravages of white supremacy and responded to the challenges of her life with intellectual curiosity, moral courage, and clarity."
--Marcia Chatelain, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Franchise

"A beautiful, brilliant, and important book. It's as if an essential puzzle piece in Black history had been missing, and Ashley Farmer has filled it in, perfectly, with meticulous research and stirring prose. Unforgettable."
--Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of King: A Life

"Queen Mother is a deeply researched, beautifully written epic recounting Audley Moore's landmark, unsung life."
--Edda L. Fields-Black, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Combee

"A monumental achievement. The meticulousness of Ashley Farmer's research is matched only by the grace of her prose. The result is a lucid, fascinating biography--a rendering worthy of the great Audley Moore herself."
--Jelani Cobb, Dean of the Columbia School of Journalism

"Our understanding of the history of Black activism, with its points both high and low, will be fuller for Farmer's portrait of Moore, who offers those of us who struggle toward justice a model for playing the long game."
--Texas Observer

"Stimulating, thought-provoking, and insightful."
--The Progressive

"A tour de force. . . . An immersive narrative that honors Moore--a political visionary and tactician--who fought tirelessly for the liberation of Black people around the globe. Our Queen is getting the recognition she has long deserved. And we, the heirs of her labors, will be blessed by this powerful reclamation of our collective past."
--Tanisha C. Ford, NAACP Image Award-winning author of Our Secret Society and Liberated Threads

"Magisterial . . . . in a time of consolidating federal power and heightened oppression of minority groups, Queen Mother reminds readers that the value of the struggle is not in achieving landmark victories, but in continuing to move doggedly forward in the face of all adversity."
--Booklist (starred)

"A vigorous contribution to Black political history that restores an overlooked figure to the narrative."
--Kirkus Reviews

"Impressive . . . . enlightening . . . . a commanding account of a tireless firebrand."
--Publishers Weekly (starred)

"An excellent, comprehensive study of an unjustly forgotten civil rights legend."
--Library Journal (starred)