Freedom's Gate

Commendable … A welcome corrective to masculine castings of the civil rights movement and of Black political and intellectual thought from the late 1950s through the mid-1960s, in both the United States and the African diaspora…simultaneously vast and intimate…if Black women’s friendships and artistry, coupled with political action and finely observed emotional nuance, are your siren’s call, then Colbert’s book is a rare treat * New York Times *
Freedom’s Gate reminds us that the great artists of the Civil Rights Movement were not inevitable. They were the product of hours of conversation, study, collaboration, and disagreement, of women talking after hours in a smoky club or listening to one another rehearse. Freedom’s Gate offers a possible blueprint for how musicians might get back to making music that speaks to the moment * Harper’s Bazaar *
Outstanding … an equally tender and galvanizing portrait of women who used their art and friendships to further Black liberation * Publishers Weekly *
Absorbing … A superb telling of the women of the Gate’s collective story * Booklist *
Engaging, well-researched… A fresh perspective on Black history * Kirkus *
In this meticulously researched, beautifully written book, Soyica Diggs Colbert introduces us to the early careers of Maya Angelou, Lorraine Hansberry, Abbey Lincoln, Miriam Makeba, and Nina Simone as they shape their aesthetic and political sensibilities into art forms that could in turn give voice to the most urgent concerns of their times. Freedom’s Gate is a magnificent project, written by a truly talented scholar – Farah Jasmine Griffin, author of READ UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND
Soyica Diggs Colbert’s book brilliantly shows how the Village Gate often birthed and became the backdrop for the activism, artistry, and friendship of Maya Angelou, Lorraine Hansberry, Abbey Lincoln, Miriam Makeba, and Nina Simone during the civil rights movement. Through elegant storytelling and a vibrant history, she traces how their ‘sister circles,’ or those intricate networks of influence, connections, and mentorship, motivated and, more importantly, sustained them as they bravely confronted power and boldly fought for change at the height of their professional and personal lives – Salamishah Tillet, Distinguished Professor of Africana Studies and Creative Writing at Rutgers University–Newark
Remarkable … A story of hope and defiance, of collective power and shared vulnerability, of aesthetic courage and audacity―and an extraordinary tribute to her subjects, five Black female artists who dared to imagine a liberated future, both in their work and in their activism. As Soyica Diggs Colbert shows, the lives they led, and the art they left behind, are still rich in lessons about the meaning of freedom – Adam Shatz, author of THE REBEL’S CLINIC

Soyica Diggs Colbert is the Idol Family Professor at Georgetown University and a winner of the Guggenheim Fellowship. Author of the award-winning Radical Vision: A Biography of Lorraine Hansberry, she has written for the New York Times and Washington Post. She lives in Washington, DC.

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