The daring women of Maryland made their mark on history as spies, would-be queens and fiery suffragettes. Sarah Wilson escaped indentured servitude in Frederick by impersonating the queen's sister. In Cumberland, Sallie Pollock smuggled letters for top Confederate officials. Baltimore journalist Marguerite Harrison sneaked into Russia to report conditions there after World War I. From famous figures like Harriet Tubman to unsung heroines like "Lady...

Finding Charity's Folk highlights the experiences of enslaved women who negotiated for their own freedom, many of whom have been largely lost to historical records. Based on more than fifteen hundred manumission records and historical documents from a diversity of archives, Jessica Millward's book skillfully brings together African American social and gender history to provide a new means of using biography as a historical genre. Millward opens with...