In the heartland of 19th century America, amid a roaring sea of racism and hatred, a mixed-race community existed where blacks lived as equal citizens with whites. Schools and churches were completely integrated, blacks and whites married and power and wealth were shared between the races. Starting in the 1860s, the people of Covert, Michigan, broke both the laws and barriers to attempt what then seemed impossible: to love ones neighbour as oneself! Far from serving as a beacon, amidst America's turmoil the story of Covert was forgotten, swept aside by those who found its very existence threatening, the memory of it wiped out by the passage of time. Now, in A Stronger Kinship, Anna-Lisa Cox gives us an astonishing account of the residents of Covert, told through six leading families who lived out this grand experiment in peaceable justice. It presents an America that miraculously once was and a vision of what it could become. This amazing history is a revelation.

The story of America's forgotten black pioneers, who escaped slavery, settled the frontier, and proved that racial equality was possible even as the country headed toward civil war. The American frontier is one of our most cherished and enduring national images. We think of the early settlers who tamed the wilderness and built the bones of our great country as courageous, independent--and white. In this groundbreaking work of deep historical research, Anna-Lisa Cox shows that this history simply isn't accurate. In fact, she has found a stunning number of black settlements on the frontier--in the thousands. Though forgotten today, these homesteads were a matter of national importance at the time; their mere existence challenged rationalizations for slavery and pushed the question toward a crisis--one that was not resolved until the eruption of the Civil War. Blending meticulous detail with lively storytelling, Cox brings historical recognition to the brave people who managed not just to secure their freedom but begin a battle that is still going on today--a battle for equality.

In the heartland of the United States 150 years ago, where racism and hatred were common, a community decided there could be a different America. Here schools and churches were completely integrated, blacks and whites intermarried, and power and wealth were shared by both races. But for this to happen, the town's citizens had to keep secrets, break the laws of the world outside, and sweep aside fear and embrace hope. In a historical-detective feat, Anna-Lisa Cox uncovers the heartening story of this community that took the road untaken. Beginning in the 1860s, the people of Covert, Michigan, attempted to do what then seemed impossible: love one's neighbor--regardless of skin color--as oneself. Drawing on diaries, oral histories, and contemporary records, Cox gives us intimate glimpses of Covert's people, from William Conner, the Civil War veteran who went on to become Michigan's first black justice of the peace, to Elizabeth Gillard, who, shipwrecked and washed onto Covert's shores, ultimately came to love the unusual community she would call home. In bringing these and other stories of this small town to light, Cox presents a vision of what our nation might have been, and could be.