Missouri is well-known for its German American heritage, but the story of nineteenth-century German immigrant abolitionists is often neglected in discussions of the state’s history. This collection of ten original essays (with a foreword by renowned Missouri historian Gary Kremer), relates what unfolded when idealistic Germans, many of whom were highly educated and devoted to the ideals of freedom and democracy, left their homeland and settled in a pre–Civil War slave state. Fleeing political persecution during the 1830s and 1840s, immigrants such as Friedrich Münch, Eduard Mühl, Heinrich Boernstein, and Arnold Krekel arrived in the area now known as the Missouri German Heritage Corridor in hopes of finding a land more congenial to their democratic ideals. When they witnessed the state of enslaved Blacks, many of them became abolitionist activists and fervent supporters of Abraham Lincoln and the Union in the emerging Civil War. Editor Sydney Norton and the other contributing authors to Fighting for a Free Missouri explore the Germans’ abolitionist mission, their relationships with African Americans, and their activity in the radical wing of the Republican Party.   " Fighting for a Free Missouri is an excellent collection of essays by scholars of German American studies, African American history, and sociology. It provides a much-needed examination of Missouri Germans as a diverse socio-political group, revealing that while most were ardent philosophical opponents to slavery as an institution, many failed to support racial equality after the war. Collectively, these essays prove that German immigrants and their publications played a crucial role in the abolition of slavery in Missouri."— Petra DeWitt , Missouri University of Science and Technology, author of The Missouri Home Guard: Protecting the Home Front during the Great War “A weighty contribution to Missouri history, Civil War history, and the history of immigration.”— David Roediger , University of Kansas, author of Class, Race, and Marxism and Seizing Freedom: Slave Emancipation and Liberty for All “Missouri's entering the Union in 1821 coincided with the beginning of large-scale immigration from German-speaking Europe, with nearly two million Germans coming to the U.S. prior to the Civil War. Many of them sought to start a new life on the Missouri frontier. These immigrants, in a pivotal slave state, found themselves embroiled in the controversy over the abolition of slavery in the "land of the free." Sydney Norton's anthology plunges the reader into the midst of this struggle, offering a multitude of insights into the interactions of German immigrants with the enslavement of African Americans and the bloody battle that ultimately led to freedom.”— William D. Keel , University of Kansas, editor of Yearbook of German-American Studies "The text does a fine job of introducing the reader to what is likely an unfamiliar topic, while still being a well-researched tome that will be useful to those hoping to deeply engage with this aspect of history." - Emerging Civil War   "Expertly compiled and edited by Sydney Norton, she and the other contributing authors to Fighting for a Free Missouri: German Immigrants, African Americans, and the Issue of Slavery deftly explore the Germans' abolitionist mission, their relationships with African Americans, and their activity in the radical wing of the Republican Party." -  Library Bookwatch "Each of the ten chapters focuses on the radical German abolitionists who supported emancipation and the Union during the Civil War era. While acknowledging that most German Americans opposed slavery, the contributors also recognize that their views on racial equality were varied and complicated."— Missouri Historical Review   “The history of German and German American influence on Missouri is a well-studied topic; however, Germans’ roles in that state’s anti-slavery and abolitionists movements is not. This collection from Norton, who holds a PhD in German literature and cultural studies, remedies this oversight… As a collection, this volume contributes significantly to the historiography of the overall topic, though each essay is strong enough that it could stand on its own.”— CHOICE   “A valuable contribution to a rich body of scholarship about the unique role German immigrants played in shaping the state’s history during the Civil War era.”— Civil War Monitor “ Fighting for a Free Missouri  offers an important contribution to the histories of Missouri and German immigration in the nineteenth century.”— Journal of Southern History  " The ten chapters and the book’s foreword by Gary Kremer are a valuable contribution to the scholarship of the Civil War era. Those who desire a fuller understanding of the history of Kansas will find value in this book."— Kansas History     Sydney J. Norton is an independent scholar, translator, and educator in St. Louis, Missouri. She earned her doctorate in Germ