top of page

Louisiana Writer Award 2021

NEWEST Economy Hall members' names in 1874 and 1876 incorporation

Humanities Book of the Year

2022

American Book Award
2022

"'Economy Hall' is so inviting that the true depth of its scholarship is revealed only in its bibliography, which lists dozens of archival and other sources. Shaik's monumental book....is lyrical and mysterious and always captivating." The New York Times

THNOC_Economy Hall (cover) - Copy.jpg

Buy

Now

"bearing witness to early Black activism,"
Library Journal

Best Nonfiction 2021--Kirkus Reviews

Our 51 Favorite Books of 2021-- Washington Independent Review of Books

"Shaik blows the dust off the ancient records of an African American society...A lively, readable story." Kirkus Starred Review

4 Books to read for Black History Month: Kirkus Perspectives

LitHub Essay: On Mutual Aid, the Archive, and Uncovering the History of Black Brotherhood

American History Review: "She renders the results of her extensive primary source research for Economy Hall with the detail and pacing of a novel."

Washington Independent Review of Books:

"prodigious and fascinating research"

“A most remarkable book built upon extraordinary research, beautiful writing, and devotion to telling the truth about the outstanding elite free colored community in New Orleans and its multi-generational battles for equal rights and against deeply entrenched, growing violent racism in their beloved home.”

--GWENDOLYN MIDLOW HALL,PhD

Creator, Louisiana Slave Database and Author, Africans in Colonial Louisiana: The Development of Afro-Creole Culture in the 18th Century.

"The twists and turns in how Fatima Shaik’s incandescent new book, Economy Hall, came into being are as remarkable as those within its pages." Holly Devon, Iron Lattice

America Magazine: The Jesuit Review "Fatima Shaik's stunning book stems from the author’s tenacity in excavating the contours of a culture and a keen eye for the people who sustained it."