The Haitian Revolution in the Early Republic of Letters

Concerns about Haiti suffused the early American print public sphere from the outbreak of the revolution in 1791 until well after its conclusion in 1804. Periodicals described the Haitian revolution with sentimental and sensationalist undertones which took new life in early U.S. fiction. In The Haitian Revolution in the Early Republic of Letters: Incipient Fevers, Duncan Faherty demonstrates that Haiti was not an enigma occasionally deployed by American writers, but rather the bellwether against which the prospects for the nation’s future were imagined and interrogated.

Consistent Democracy

What did it mean that in the world's first mass democracy only a minority ruled and that women—free and enslaved, white and Black, single and married—formed the largest group of people barred from full self-government in nineteenth-century America?

The Opening of the Protestant Mind

From 1650 through 1760, a shift occurred in English descriptions of world religions—vividly pictured in engravings, dictionaries, and travel narratives. The descriptions began as unabated criticism of non-Protestant faiths: Native American traditions as satanic, Islam as violent, and Roman Catholicism as idolatrous. During the mid-eighteenth century, however, they praised the moral mindsets of many Native Americans, admired the learning within many Islamic sects, and applauded the kindness of many Roman Catholics―reflecting ideas of religious freedom and tolerance.

Brooding over Bloody Revenge

From the colonial through the antebellum era, enslaved women in the US used lethal force as the ultimate form of resistance. By amplifying their voices and experiences, Brooding Over Bloody Revenge (Cambridge University Press, 2023) strongly challenges assumptions that enslaved women only participated in covert, non-violent forms of resistance, when in fact they consistently seized justice for themselves and organized toward revolt. Nikki M. Taylor reveals how women killed for deeply personal instances of injustice committed by their owners.

Henry David Thoreau: Thinking Disobediently

From his day to ours, Henry David Thoreau has provoked sharply opposite reactions, ranging from reverence to dismissal. Scholars have regularly offered conflicting assessments of the significance of his work, the evolution of his thought, even the facts of his life. Some disagreements are in the eye of the beholder, but many follow from challenges posed by his own cross-grained idiosyncrasies.

The Rediscovery of America

The most enduring feature of U.S. history is the presence of Native Americans, yet most histories focus on Europeans and their descendants. This long practice of ignoring Indigenous history is changing, however, as a new generation of scholars insists that any full American history address the struggle, survival, and resurgence of American Indian nations. Indigenous history is essential to understanding the evolution of modern America.

The Many Resurrections of Henry Box Brown

On March 23, 1849, Henry Brown climbed into a large wooden postal crate and was mailed from slavery in Richmond, Virginia, to freedom in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “Box Brown,” as he came to be known after this astounding feat, went on to carve out a career as an abolitionist speaker, actor, magician, hypnotist, and even faith healer, traveling the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada until his death in 1897.

Strong Passions: A Scandalous Divorce in Old New York

In 1862, Mary Strong stunned her husband, Peter, the scion of a wealthy and influential family, by confessing to a two-year affair with his brother. Peter sued Mary for divorce, but not before she accused him of forcing her into an abortion and having an affair with the abortionist. Then Mary kidnapped their youngest child. New York-based writer Barbara Weisberg recounts the true story of the Strongs’ tumultuous marriage, explosive divorce, and riveting trial that included an array of witnesses from all walks of life and clashing versions of events.

'While Pen, Ink & Paper Can Be Had': Reading and Writing in a Time of Revolution

Instead of the typical focus on the famed trio of Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin, this lecture looks at the American Revolution through the eyes of two relatively unknown individuals. A son and a daughter of families who counted themselves members of Boston’s elite, William Tudor, who served in the Continental Army, and Delia Jarvis, a Loyalist whom he was courting, forged their relationship in a world of divisive turmoil and radical change. A remarkably rich transatlantic literary culture that remained intact in an increasingly embattled world served as their vehicle.

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