“In Lift Up Thy Voice Mark Perry has provided a panoramic sketch of the most turbulent period of American history. In reading this book we see moving before our very eyes how one family made the transition from slave owners to freedom fighters; from southerners to Yankees; from white to black. My students—black and white, undergrads and grads, female and male—will embrace this book . . . which, though crammed full of history and facts, reads like a Toni Morrison novel.”
—Andrew Billingsley, University of South Carolina
“Perry offers the fascinating family history of the Grimkés and the quintessential American racial pathologies that most slaveholders would have denied but which the Grimkés faced head-on. . . . An absorbing look at America’s seminal reform movement and the fascinating family that led the struggle.”
—Booklist
“The historical background is deftly handled; while clarifying policies, people, organizations and ideas, Perry never loses sight of his primary subjects. The Grimkés’ personal struggles and their public and published works hold the center to make this book eminently readable.”
—Publishers Weekly