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Acknowledgments

This book is complete because of an extensive network of family, friends, colleagues, and students who supported me throughout the process. I first owe endless gratitude to the Black women of this study who left an archive for me to consider and lived their freedom in ways that continue to defy documentation. In tracing their lives, I first visited holdings at the Library Company of Philadelphia, with support from their Andrew Mellon fellowship program. I am forever indebted to Phillip Lapsansky for his vast knowledge and good nature, and also to Erika Piola, Cornelia King, Charlene Knight, Krystal Appiah, and Nicole Joniec, who make the Library Company a place to which I will always return.

New York University Press is another significant institution that shaped this project. I appreciate the commitment of Eric Zinner and Alicia Nadkarni, editors for the “America in the Long Nineteenth Century” series, the American Literatures Initiative, and, most especially, my editors, Badia Ahad and Cecelia Cancellaro.

My intellectual community is vast and charitable. John L. Jackson Jr., my advisor, has offered unwavering support for my ideas, and me, even from the very beginning; I continue to rely on his guidance and friendship. Kali N. Gross, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, and Paul Messaris read the earliest iterations of these ideas, along with Oscar Gandy Jr., offering critical insights. Beverly Henry, Nadine Gabbadon, and Robin Stevens, along with Khadijah White and Aymar Christian, helped me thrive at the University of Pennsylvania, making the Annenberg School for Communication a place in which I could study. Dan Berger, Gershun Avalez, and Tshepo Chéry variously continue to amaze me, inspire me, and keep me honest. Then and now, Riley Snorton remains a generous reader, great counsel and a good friend. Shawnika Hull, added much robustness to my life in Philadelphia and remains a close confidant.

I am also thankful to the Africana Research Center at Pennsylvania State University for fellowship and an expanded community. I am grateful to Lovalerie King, Cary Fraser, Tracy Beckett, Kirt Wilson, Dawn Noren, Alyssa Garcia, and especially Ariane Cruz. I count them among a network of mentors and dear friends, to include Robin Means Coleman, Maghan Keita, Crystal Lucky, Carol Anthony, Teresa Nance, Ed Goff, Charles Cherry, Kevin Miles, Bryan Crable, Marcia Dawkins, Deborah A. Thomas, Martha Jones, Daphne Brooks and Erica Armstrong Dunbar.

Northwestern University has offered the support of generous colleagues, including Angela Ray, who read a full draft, along with E. Patrick Johnson and Jan Radway, the ever-luminous Richard Iton, Jasmine Johnson, Huey Copeland, Joshua Chambers-Letson, Miriam Petty, Michelle Wright, D. Soyini Madison, Dilip Gaonkar, Bob Hariman, and Pablo Boczkowski. I appreciate the helpful administration, as well as the Northwestern University Research Grants Committee, which provided partial funding for this publication. Also, a special thank-you to the students in my graduate seminars for contributing to spaces of experimentation and contemplation. Conversations with Rhaisa Williams, Dwayne Mann, Cecilio Cooper, and Chelsea Ferguson have been particularly helpful, alongside the exceptional assistance of Caitlin Bruce, Amina Asim, and most especially, Juliette Lim.

Most of all, I thank my family, including a host of aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings, parents, and grandparents, who encouraged me throughout this process. Lottie Cobb, Daryl Cobb, and Helen Webster have always been divine, even while on earth. Clinton Webster has been a blessing in my life; I would not have made it here without his love and devotion. I am most grateful to my mother, Caryl Harris, who has always fostered my curiosity, even when inconvenient. She has supported me in everything I have ever attempted, escorting me on every wild endeavor and filling my room with books. Danielle, Darrell, Dana, Nyall, and especially Monique cheered me on the entire way, along with my aunts Jean Webster and Marilyn Johnson, who nurtured me. I am also immensely grateful for friendships that travel, like family, surviving space and time: Lynette Lee, Keyanna Pompey, Shanice Jackson, and Precious Daniels. Finally, I am thankful for my chosen family, which sustains me everyday. Loie faithfully attended work daily, under my desk, until this book was complete. Kenyon Whittington teaches me something new every day and supports me in ways far bigger than I can dream. I could not have finished this book without you; thanks for ceaseless love and dedication. Thank you all for the support.