Overview

Covering the whole of the nineteenth century, Wanted! A Nation! reveals how Haiti remained a focus of attention for white as well as Black Americans before, during, and even after the Civil War. Before the Civil War, Claire Bourhis-Mariotti argues, the Black republic was considered by free Black Americans as a place where full citizenship was at hand. Haiti was essentially viewed and concretely experienced as a refuge during moments when free Black Americans lost hope of obtaining rights in the United States. Haiti is also at the heart of this book, as Haitian leaders supported the American emigration to Haiti (in the 1820s and early 1860s), opposed the American geostrategic and diplomatic diktats in the 1870s and 1880s, and finally offered an international platform to Frederick Douglass at the 1893 Columbian World’s Fair, thus helping Black people who faced discrimination at home to fight first against slavery and the slave trade, and then for equal rights. By spanning the entire nineteenth century, Wanted! A Nation! presents a complex panorama of the emergence of African American identity and argues that Haiti should be considered as an essential prism to understand how African Americans forged their identity in the nineteenth century. Drawing on a variety of sources, Wanted! A Nation! goes far beyond the usual framework of national American history and contributes to the writing of an Atlantic and global history of the struggle for equal rights.

Full Product Details

9780820365893

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Reviews

This is a terrific book that brings new material and interpretations to a burgeoning field of study surrounding the links between the United States and Haiti and the place of Haiti in African American practice and thought. It places anglophone and francophone writing and scholarship into dialogue in an important and innovative way. -- Laurent Dubois * author of Haiti: The Aftershocks of History * Through impressive research and nuanced storytelling, the author paints a vivid portrait of Haiti’s enduring impact on the collective imagination of Black Americans...Wanted! A Nation! is a compelling testament to the enduring legacy of Haiti in shaping Black American identity and political consciousness. Bourhis-Mariotti’s diligent research and insightful analysis make this book an essential contribution to the fields of Black history and diaspora studies, among others. Her work, with the support of Johnson, shows the importance of translation and language studies for scholars who want to get a more in-depth view of the literature. -- Courtney Pierre Joseph * American Historical Review *

This is a terrific book that brings new material and interpretations to a burgeoning field of study surrounding the links between the United States and Haiti and the place of Haiti in African American practice and thought. It places anglophone and francophone writing and scholarship into dialogue in an important and innovative way."" - Laurent Dubois, author of Haiti: The Aftershocks of History

"This is a terrific book that brings new material and interpretations to a burgeoning field of study surrounding the links between the United States and Haiti and the place of Haiti in African American practice and thought. It places anglophone and francophone writing and scholarship into dialogue in an important and innovative way.--Laurent Dubois ""author of Haiti: The Aftershocks of History"""

Author Information

CLAIRE BOURHIS-MARIOTTI is a professor of African American history and the codirector of the research unit TransCrit at the University of Paris 8-Paris Lumières. In addition to Wanted! A Nation! (Georgia), she is the author of Isaac Mason: Une vie d’esclave and coeditor of Writing History from the Margins: African Americans and the Quest for Freedom. She lives and writes in France.

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