The Gospel of Freedom is well-written, engaging and lively. Alicestyne Turley has meticulously combed the archives and other records of the period to bring crucial new evidence to bear. She has produced a compelling work that tells and documents a remarkable story of African American historical agency and achievement.
~Keith P. Griffler, author of Front Line of Freedom: African Americans and the Forging of the Underground Railroad in the Ohio Valley
Alicestyne Turley's deeply engaging, powerfully written, and well-researched book, The Gospel of Freedom, is a must-read for anyone interested in the impact of the Second Great Awakening on the motives and goals of those engaged in Underground Railroad activities below the Mason-Dixon Line. Also crucial to this book is the author's potent discussions of African American and Kentucky history during the antebellum period. For these points alone, the author should be congratulated and praised.
~Eric R. Jackson, author of An Introduction to Black Studies, recipient of the Thomas D. Clark Medallion Award
This is a very welcome addition to the literature of slavery in Kentucky and the Underground Railroad generally. Alicestyne Turley has been the leader in research on both topics for some time and The Gospel of Freedom is a monument to her extensive research and command of both the sources and the literature. It will reshape how we understand slavery in Kentucky, but more importantly brings fresh perspective to the battle against slavery. Religious zeal, Black agency in claiming freedom are blended in a narrative by a historian with deep knowledge and passion equal to her subject.
~William H. Mulligan, Jr., PhD, Professor of History Emeritus, Murray State University
In The Gospel of Freedom, Alicestyne Turley provides a timely reinterpretation of the Underground Railroad as part of Black America's long struggle for civil rights. Continuing the work of James B. Hudson, Turley recenters the narrative of the Underground Railroad away from a romanticized interpretation that championed white Northern abolitionists. In its place, she shifts the narrative below the Mason-Dixon Line, deftly unpacking the confluence of religious ideas, institutions, and biracial alliances that led Black men, women, and children to undermine the institution of slavery and seek their own freedom.
~Charles R. Welsko, Kentucky Historical Society, Project Director, Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition
This is a story of courageous actions, mostly by men and women of color, slave and free, who worked hard and long to make this world better for their followers and to prepare them for the next world. By stressing afresh the religious roots of the struggle for freedom, especially with regard to the Underground Railroad, Alicestyne Turley does full credit to the people in this account of faith, persistence, and real heroism. Here is a clearly written and well-illustrated work that deserves wide attention.
~James C. Klotter, the State Historian of Kentucky and professor emeritus of history at Georgetown College
2022 National Association of Black Storytellers Fellowship This inaugural fellowship is an adjudicated award recognizing artistic excellence in representation of the folk arts and in their cultural heritage.
Recipient of the 2022 Clark Medallion Book Award
In The Gospel of Freedom, Alicestyne Turley offers a critical reappraisal of the religious dimensions of the Underground Railroad. Both informative and ramifying.Turley's book offers a welcome analysis and compilation of stories on the Black evangelical network shaping freedom networks in Kentucky and beyond.
~Civil War Book Review
