Hope's Highway (Paperback or Softback)

Hope’s Highway: A Novel (1918) is a historical novel by Sarah Lee Brown Fleming. Published during the Harlem Renaissance, Fleming’s novel is a powerful work of fiction exploring the lives of formerly enslaved Black people living in the South during Reconstruction. Recognized as a leading advocate for the advancement of Black girls and women throughout her life, Fleming is a writer whose voice never falters from the task at hand: telling the story of her people. In the aftermath of the Civil War, the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation is fulfilled to with varying results throughout the South. On John Vance’s plantation, many of his former slaves have remained to work in their new capacity as wage laborers, fearful of change and confident in the relative kindness of their former master. Among them, Enoch receives financial support and an education, eventually rising to the role of first Black teacher in the Reconstruction South. When John Vance dies, his land and belongings are divided among his former slaves, including the influential Institute, now left for Enoch to run. As much as their situation promises some hope for the future, the specter of enslavement and prejudice lurks around every corner, forcing them to use caution when dealing with those who would sooner have them back in chains than treat them as fellow humans. Hope’s Highway: A Novel is a story of tragedy and redemption set in the South during the period of Reconstruction, a time of immense change and even greater promise in a nation only just emerged from the shadows of war. This edition of Sara Lee Brown Fleming’s Hope’s Highway: A Novel is a classic work of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Sarah Lee Brown Fleming (1876-1963) was an African American poet, novelist, educator, and activist. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Fleming was raised in Brooklyn, where she would become the school system’s first Black teacher. In 1902, she married Richard Stedman Fleming, a pioneering African American dentist with whom she would raise a son and a daughter. In addition to her work as a teacher, Fleming was a founder of the New Haven’s Women’s Civic League and the Phillis Wheatley Home for Girls. A lifelong advocate for Black girls and women, she received honors and awards from the United States Congress and the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Club. She also published works of literature, including Hope’s Highway: A Novel (1918) and Clouds and Sunshine (1920), a collection of poems.