Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State
By Caleb Gayle
Riverhead Books, 2025

As the changes brought by the Civil War and Reconstruction began to wane, anger at the opportunities available to newly freed Black people were on the rise, prompting both Blacks and Whites to search for new places to settle. Edward McCabe, a Black businessman and rising political star, envisioned a solution: found a state for Black people to live in and govern. Eyeing Oklahoma, which had been deeded to those displaced by the Trail of Tears, McCabe’s vision was foiled by politics, business interests, and White settlers who likewise sought the land.

This event is presented in partnership with the Delaware Historical Society and Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice (SDARJ).

About the Author
Caleb Gayle is a journalist, professor, and the author of We Refuse to Forget: A True Story of Black Creeks, American Identity, and Power, featured at HBF in 2022. Gayle earned his degrees at the University of Oklahoma, Oxford, and Harvard’s Business and Kennedy Schools. He and his wife live in Boston.

Purchase the book
Please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing this book at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665. You also may purchase a copy at biblion in Lewes.

About the Festival
The History Book Festival is the first and only book festival in the United States devoted exclusively to history. With the help of our presenting funding partners — Delaware Humanities and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices | PenFed Realty — as well as our program and community partners, volunteers, and donors, the 2025 History Book Festival will be full of great discussions with authors of newly published narrative nonfiction and historical fiction. 

Thanks to all of our donors, especially our education and outreach funding partners: Ronald Collins & Susan Cohen, Carolyn & Aaron Nayer, Jen Mason & Clare Hancock, and Browseabout Books. HBF authors visit classrooms in Delaware, and HBF provides their books to schools, libraries, and community organizations.

Our Keynote event is presented by Griswold Home Care for Sussex and Kent Counties and Sally Mott Freeman & John K. Freeman; our Closing event is presented by the Delaware Community Foundation. Saturday’s Spirited Discussion, our gathering for attendees and presenters to celebrate and discuss their day, is presented by Dogfish Head Beer & Benevolence.

Special thanks to our Founding Program Partners for their continuing support: the Lewes Public Library, for event promotion and production, and Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Thanks also to the  Lewes Chamber of Commerce for event promotion, and the Cape Gazette and Delmarva Public Media, our media partners.