Culinary historian
A rare item, only one copy known, by an African-American woman. She was a free woman of color and because of her Union sympathies, had to flee the South during the Civil War. She moved to Michigan and planned to return to the South to redeem her property. She was an indomitable spirit: her story is an African-American one and an American one. There is a modern facsimile.
Food writer
Recently rescued from obscurity, it is believed to be the earliest known cookbook written by an African American.