Right to Ride is one of those marvelous books that will forever change historians' ideas about an incident they thought they understood completely: the context surrounding Plessy v. Ferguson. Beautifully written and extremely well researched, it uncovers completely new material that will impinge on a variety of historiographical arguments." —Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore, Peter V. and C. Vann Woodward Professor of History, African American Studies, and American Studies, Yale University

Kelley's work makes an extraordinary contribution to the historiography of African American politics in the era immediately following the disastrous Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision. Her discussions of Walker, Washington, Barber, Mitchell, and other leaders shows an astonishing grasp of the complexities they faced as Jim Crow descended on America. Right to Ride promises to explode the current dichotomies found in the present-day literature on black history. A magnificent piece of work!" —Paul Ortiz, author of Emancipation Betrayed: The Hidden History of Black Organizing and White Violence in Florida from Reconstruction to the Bloody Election of 1920