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Queen Mother

Black Nationalism, Reparations, and the Untold Story of Audley Moore

Author Ashley D. Farmer On Tour
Hardcover
$35.00 US
| $48.00 CAN
Knopf | Pantheon
On sale Nov 04, 2025 | 496 Pages | 9780593701546
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From an award-winning historian of Black radical politics comes the definitive biography of Queen Mother Audley Moore—mother of modern Black Nationalism and trailblazer in the fight for reparations

“Queen Mother is a monumental achievement, a rendering worthy of the great Audley Moore herself.”—Jelani Cobb, Dean of the Columbia School of Journalism

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

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.
“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

“Queen Mother is a beautiful, brilliant, and important book. It’s as if an essential puzzle piece in Black history had been missing, and Ashley Farmer has filled it in, perfectly, with meticulous research and stirring prose. Unforgettable.”
—Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of King: A Life

"Impressive . . . . enlightening . . . . a commanding account of a tireless firebrand."
—Publishers Weekly (starred)

“Queen Mother is a deeply researched, beautifully written epic recounting Audley Moore's landmark, unsung life.”
—Edda L. Fields-Black, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War

“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 tour de force. Ashley Farmer has masterfully reconstructed the life of activist-intellectual Audley Moore from a scattered, unruly archive. What emerges is an immersive narrative that honors Moore—a political visionary and tactician—who fought tirelessly for the liberation of Black people around the globe. Our Queen is getting the recognition she has long deserved. And we, the heirs of her labors, will be blessed by this powerful reclamation of our collective past.”
—Tanisha C. Ford, NAACP Image Award-winning author of Our Secret Society and Liberated Threads
Ashley D. Farmer is an award-winning writer, researcher, and cultural analyst who explores Black history and its implications today. Her first book, Remaking Black Power, was shortlisted for numerous prizes, and she has received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and the Whiting Foundation.  Farmer’s ideas and insights have appeared in multiple venues including Harper's Bazaar, NPR, The Washington Post, and Teen Vogue. Farmer lives, reads, and writes in Austin, Texas, and is an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin. View titles by Ashley D. Farmer

About

From an award-winning historian of Black radical politics comes the definitive biography of Queen Mother Audley Moore—mother of modern Black Nationalism and trailblazer in the fight for reparations

“Queen Mother is a monumental achievement, a rendering worthy of the great Audley Moore herself.”—Jelani Cobb, Dean of the Columbia School of Journalism

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

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.

Reviews

“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

“Queen Mother is a beautiful, brilliant, and important book. It’s as if an essential puzzle piece in Black history had been missing, and Ashley Farmer has filled it in, perfectly, with meticulous research and stirring prose. Unforgettable.”
—Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of King: A Life

"Impressive . . . . enlightening . . . . a commanding account of a tireless firebrand."
—Publishers Weekly (starred)

“Queen Mother is a deeply researched, beautifully written epic recounting Audley Moore's landmark, unsung life.”
—Edda L. Fields-Black, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War

“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 tour de force. Ashley Farmer has masterfully reconstructed the life of activist-intellectual Audley Moore from a scattered, unruly archive. What emerges is an immersive narrative that honors Moore—a political visionary and tactician—who fought tirelessly for the liberation of Black people around the globe. Our Queen is getting the recognition she has long deserved. And we, the heirs of her labors, will be blessed by this powerful reclamation of our collective past.”
—Tanisha C. Ford, NAACP Image Award-winning author of Our Secret Society and Liberated Threads

Author

Ashley D. Farmer is an award-winning writer, researcher, and cultural analyst who explores Black history and its implications today. Her first book, Remaking Black Power, was shortlisted for numerous prizes, and she has received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and the Whiting Foundation.  Farmer’s ideas and insights have appeared in multiple venues including Harper's Bazaar, NPR, The Washington Post, and Teen Vogue. Farmer lives, reads, and writes in Austin, Texas, and is an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin. View titles by Ashley D. Farmer

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