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

In the world of radical Black 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 a mentor to some of America’s most influential Black activists from her homes in North Philadelphia and Harlem.

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. [Adapted from publishers’ description.]

ISBN: 9780593701546 | Pantheon

Praise

Queen Mother is 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

Queen Mother is 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. Ashley Farmer’s book pays homage not just to Queen Mother Moore, but also to the scores of Black women who have built movements and dreamt of transforming their worlds. — Marcia Chatelain, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America