Acknowledgements
My sincere appreciation goes to Studies on the African Diaspora series editor Michael A. Gomez, Cecelia Cancellaro, Cambridge University Press staff, James Warren, Denise Bannerman, Frantz Zéphirin, and the anonymous reviewers for their support, assistance, guidance, and labor in bringing this book to fruition.
Thank you to my University of North Carolina at Charlotte colleagues for their support: Julia Jordan-Zachery, Akin Ogundiran, Dorothy Smith-Ruiz, Oscar de la Torre, Debra Smith, Veronica Robinson, Oweeta Shands, Rosie Wickham, Danielle Boaz, Tanure Ojaide, Honoré Missihoun, Erika Edwards, Gregory Mixon, Sonya Ramsey, Jürgen Buchenau, Christopher Cameron, Christine Haynes, Kendra Jason, Janaka Bowman-Lewis, Elisabeth Paquette, Andrea Pitts, Eddy Souffrant, Felix Jean-Louis, Huma Ibrahim, and Reese Manceaux.
My year at the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice as the Ruth J. Simmons Postdoctoral Fellow provided a great community to think through and discuss the ideas for the book, revisit materials at the John Carter Brown Library, and host a manuscript workshop where Michael Gomez, Rory McVeigh, and Center Director Anthony Bogues provided critical feedback. I am happy to also have had the support of Professor Bogues, Shana Weinberg, Maiyah Gamble-Rivers, Catherine Van Amburgh, Nic John Ramos, Zach Sell, Felicia Bevel, Felicia Denaud, and Ricarda Hammer.
Many faculty, staff, and colleagues were an important part of my undergraduate and graduate journey at Michigan State University: Aaron McCright, Glenn Chambers, Steve Gold, Brendan Mullan, Carl Taylor, Yomaira Figueroa, David Wheat, Rita Edozie, Soma Chaudhuri, Safoi Babana-Hampton, Clifford Broman, Stephanie Nawyn, Ray Jussaume, John McClendon, Roseanne Bills, Tammy Spangler, Patience Adibe, Marilyn Duke, John Duda, Nwando Achebe, Michael Largey, Sohba Ramanand, Debbie Jesswein, David Wiley, Logan Williams, Roger Bresnahan, Tony Nunez, Julius Jackson, Beronda Montgomery, Steven Thomas, Pero Dagbovie, Kyana Young, Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, John Lee, Thomas Padilla, Devin Higgins, Alissa Lyon, Agnes Widder, Nicole Jess, Dean Rehberger, Jualynne Dodson, Sonya Johnson, Samina Hamidi, Will Escalante, Christian Ramirez, Blair Zaid, Shanti Zaid, Alexandra Gelbard, Matthew Pettway, Harry Odamtten, Julene Wilson, Renee Canady, Ola Nwabara, Jasmine Cooper, Janelle Edwards, Kelly Birch, Jamil Scott, Jeff Oliver, John Girdwood, Maria Martin, Fayana Richards, Ashley Sanderlin, Khalfani Herman, Paula Miller, and Summer Allen.
Over the years, a number of scholars and colleagues, archive buddies, and travel friends and hosts offered their support, advice, and nuggets of insights and wisdom that encouraged me, stimulated or challenged my thinking, and helped push my work forward: John K. Thornton, Carolyn Fick, Alex Dupuy, Mimi Sheller, Jane Landers, J. Cameron Monroe, Keisha Blain, Ashley Currier, Vanessa Holden, Jessica M. Johnson, Julia Gaffield, Chelsea Steiber, Rob Taber, Zophia Edwards, Matthew J. Smith, Cheryl Hicks, David Geggus, Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, Rudolph Ware, Jason Daniels, Rachel Yales, Ademide Adeluyi, Amy M. Johnson, Nicole Truesdell, Mamyrah Dougé-Prosper, Kishauna Soljour, Daniel Auguste, Patrick Sylvain, Joel Theodot, Jean Lesly Rene, Marc Prou, Mari Evans, Dave Glovsky, Jesus Ruiz, Jonathan Krause, Wendy Guillaume, Marc Joseph, Kyrah Daniels, Marvin Chocotte, Amber Gray, Joanna de Hora, Rodrigo Bulamah, Constance, Wamabale, Paulette and Cleophat at the Jeff Cherubin Domond Foundation Home in Port-au-Prince, Habitation Lauriers in Cap Haïtien, Michael D. Rogers, Reggie Turner, the Avril family, David Ingleman, Ebby Louis, Tahina Vatel, David Rocourt, Rebecca Olivier, Eziaku Nwokocha, Ernesto Mercado, Leo Carrio Cataldi, Linda Rupert, Alex Borucki, Jesse Dorst, Mary Draper, Aysha Pollnitz, Larry Tise, Josh Fitzgerald, Timo McGregor, Andrew Dial, Miguel Cruz, Mark Kelley, Marcy Norton, Diogo Ramada Curto and Renzo Baldasso, Daniel Ruppel, and Bruno Feitler.
Many thanks go to archivists and staff members at the French Archives Nationale and Archives Nationale d’Outre-Mer, the John Carter Brown Library, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Library Company of Philadelphia, University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Michigan William L. Clements Library, the UK College of Arms, the British National Archives, and the British Library. Several Haitian scholars and librarians patiently answered my questions and were critically helpful in identifying local sources of knowledge about my work: Patrick Tardieu, head archivist of the Bibliothèque des Pères du Saint-Esprit; Erol Josué, Director of the Bureau Nationale d’Ethnologie; Mr. Cezar and staff at the Archives Nationale d’Haïti (Poste Marchand); Laënnec Hurbon; Maurice Etienne at Lakou Lakay in Milot; and Evains Wêche at the library of Jérémie.
Various entities have supported this project at each stage of inception: the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice and John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, the University of North Carolina-Duke Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the University of Florida Center for Latin American Studies, the African American Intellectual History Society, the National Science Foundation Sociology Program, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Faculty Research Grant and the Department of Africana Studies, and Michigan State University’s Graduate School, Departments of Sociology and African American & African Studies, and Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
This book has benefitted greatly from the support of, and inspiration from, several organizations, conferences, and workshops: the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora, the African American Intellectual History Society, the Social Science History Association, the Du Bois Scholars Network, the Slavery’s Hinterlands Symposium, the Revolutionary Era Consortium, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the North Carolina Conference on Latin American Studies, the (En)gendering the Atlantic World Workshop, the International Sociological Association, and the University of Notre Dame Center for the Study of Social Movements Young Scholars Conference.
Finally, my sincerest thanks, love, and appreciation go to my parents Eddie and Edith Eddins, brothers Eddie and Greg, sister-in-law Adina, nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, my godmother Cheryl Garnett, Carolyn Arnold, friends Jasmine Gary Oke, Tiffany Samuel, Kevin Post, and other friends and family for their encouragement, patience, love, and support.
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