Decades after the Civil War ended and Reconstruction-era promises crumbled, a man named Edward McCabe led the charge for an all-Black U.S. state. He dreamed of a future where Black Americans claimed land, opportunities and political representation. Modern day Oklahoma (formerly Indian Territory) seemed like the perfect locale. Here, Indigenous tribes granted formerly enslaved people citizenship, autonomy and respect unseen anywhere else. When McCabe lobbied before President Benjamin Harrison, the newspapers labeled McCabe as “the one who would be the Moses.” In parallel, many Black people who sought new lives out west were called “Exodusters,” taking inspiration from the Hebrews’ escape from enslavement in Egypt to create a new promised land. Journalist Caleb Gayle illuminates a propulsive biography of McCabe, a rising political star and fierce advocate of Black Americans building “lives of abundance for themselves, lives on their terms.” Gayle’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and elsewhere. Currently, he’s a fellow at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and a professor at Northeastern University.