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.

"Laudable . . . meticulous . . . a portrait of a woman with uncanny savvy and flexibility . . . . Queen Mother establishes [Moore] as a titan in her own right, a central influence in nearly a century of global Black-liberation struggles."
--The Atlantic

"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."
--Marcia Chatelain, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Franchise

"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

"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

"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

"Our understanding of the history of Black activism, with its points both high and low, will be fuller for Farmer's portrait of Moore, who offers those of us who struggle toward justice a model for playing the long game."
--Texas Observer

"Stimulating, thought-provoking, and insightful."
--The Progressive

"A tour de force. . . . 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

"Magisterial . . . . in a time of consolidating federal power and heightened oppression of minority groups, Queen Mother reminds readers that the value of the struggle is not in achieving landmark victories, but in continuing to move doggedly forward in the face of all adversity."
--Booklist (starred)

"A vigorous contribution to Black political history that restores an overlooked figure to the narrative."
--Kirkus Reviews

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

"An excellent, comprehensive study of an unjustly forgotten civil rights legend."
--Library Journal (starred)

Publisher: Pantheon Books

Pub date: 2025-11-04

Length: 496 pages