From the Darkness Cometh the Light, or Struggles for Freedom

Lucy Ann Delaney was born into slavery on a Missouri plantation, the daughter of a freeborn Black woman who had been kidnapped and sold into bondage. This is the story of how she escaped that fate, and how she fought to reclaim what was rightfully hers. Delaney recounts her childhood in chains, her mother's enduring teachings about their free status, and her own harrowing teenage escape. But the true heart of this memoir lies in what came after: Delaney took her case to court and, through sheer determination, won her freedom in a legal battle that required her to testify against a powerful white man. Written in 1891 as a manual for 'self-elevation,' this is not merely a record of suffering but a fierce argument for Black self-reliance and progress. Delaney wanted her descendants, and all who came after, to know that freedom was not given but taken, claimed, and built. A vital document of American history told in one woman's unflinching voice.