“Cradle of Hope: How Haitian Independence Inspired the Birth of Black Internationalism in the United States,” 11/22 Colloquium with Rutgers University Martin Luther King, Jr. Prof. of History Leslie Alexander

Exploring the many ways in which Haiti’s emergence as a free nation shaped Black political consciousness in the 19th-century U.S., Rutgers University Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of History Leslie Alexander will focus specifically on how free and enslaved Black people’s unyielding defense of Haitian sovereignty represented the birth of a new Black internationalism that demanded not only an end to slavery but full freedom and equality throughout the African diaspora. Prof. Alexander’s talk, which is co-sponsored by the Middleton Center and Department of Black Studies, will take place on November 22 at 3:30pm in Jesse Hall 410.

Abstract

Haiti’s emergence as a free, sovereign nation lit a beacon of hope for Black people across the African diaspora during the nineteenth century. This talk chronicles how Haitian sovereignty shaped Black political consciousness in the United States, especially among those demanding freedom. For them, Haiti was their “cradle of hope”—the only nation on earth where Black people could live free and equal. All their dreams for the global Black freedom struggle rested on Haiti’s shoulders, prompting free and enslaved Black people in the United States to wage an unyielding battle to defend Haiti and its sovereignty. In so doing, they gave birth to a new Black internationalist consciousness—one that not only demanded an end to slavery, but also insisted on full freedom, equality, and sovereignty for Black people throughout the African diaspora.

Dr. Leslie Alexander is the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of History at Rutgers University and a Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University. A specialist in African American and African Diaspora history, she is the author of African or American?: Black Identity and Political Activism in New York City, 1784-1861; Fear of a Black Republic: Haiti and the Birth of Black Internationalism in the United States; and three co-edited volumes. Her current research examines how surveillance of free and enslaved Black communities during the colonial and antebellum eras laid the foundation for modern-day policing. A three-time Ford Foundation fellowship recipient, Alexander is a past President of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD) and serves on the Advisory Councils for the Journal of African American History, Black Perspectives, Global Black Thought, and the Montpelier Foundation.