Libertie

Libertie is a 2021 novel by Kaitlyn Greenidge about a young African American girl growing up in the United States in the aftermath of the Civil War. Although it is a work of historical fiction, it draws on the life and experiences of Dr. Susan Smith McKinney-Steward, who was one of the first Black women to earn a medical degree.

Plot Summary

Libertie Sampson is an 11-year-old African American girl who lives in New York state in 1860. Her widowed mother Cathy defied the racism of the era to become a doctor. Now Cathy helps escaped slaves as they travel north toward their freedom.

One evening Libertie sees her mother help a man named Ben who arrives in a coffin on a carriage. Ben stays with Libertie and Cathy while waiting for his sister to arrive. However, he quickly outstays his welcome and is sent to a lodging house in town. While staying there, he begins to drink and pine for his lost girlfriend, Daisy. The local children nickname him “Ben Daisy” as he sinks into an alcoholic depression. Ben’s sister Hannah arrives and blames Cathy for her brother’s behavior. Cathy responds by trying to cure Ben’s problems with medicine, but her experiment fails.