Brandon R. Byrd is the author of The Black Republic: African Americans and the Fate of Haiti, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2019. The Black Republic examines the multitude of responses by African American leaders towards Haiti following the Civil War and going into the 20th Century. Byrd’s work provides keen insight the ways in which Haiti was as a symbol of Black sovereignty and self-determination for many African-Americans, as well as a site of concern for those who wished to present Black Americans as worthy and capable of governance. The Black Republic brings to light an often glossed over part Black internationalism long history, placing the United States and Haiti in dialogue.

Brandon R. Byrd is Assistant Professor of History at Vanderbilt University, where he specializes in intellectual history of the 19th and 20th Centuries, African American History, and the African Diaspora.

Derek Litvak is a Ph.D. student in the department of history at the University of Maryland.

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