The New South — Sabra Waldfogel

Atlanta, July 1881. The Civil War tore Eliza's family apart. Can the washerwomen's strike bring it back together?Former slave Amanda Gardiner, a washerwoman for decades, has had enough of low wages and bad treatment. When she invites twenty washerwomen to her church to talk about working conditions, she's astonished by the result. The washerwomen spread the word to every Black church in Atlanta. Within two weeks, they've created a union, and every washerwoman in Atlanta is on strike. White Atlanta begins to sweat...Eliza Coldbrook, just graduated from all-Black Atlanta University, has a luxury afforded to few Black women. She doesn't know what to do with herself. She doesn't want to teach, missionarize, or get married. When her friend Ophelia drags her to the first meeting of the washerwomen, she's willing to go. Then she attends the next meeting, and the next...Matt Kaltenbach, Eliza's white half-brother, fled Georgia as a child after the violence of Reconstruction. Now he's returned, yearning to rebuild a relationship with his estranged half-sister. But she won't even see him. At a loss, he takes a job with a newspaper unusual for Atlanta. The Beacon is dedicated to the cause of racial equality. As the strike unfolds, and the newspaper supports it, Matt is drawn in...Will the strikers win? And when Eliza and Matt are swept into the strike, will they be able to heal the wounds of their past-and reconcile with each other?