The Fear of French Negroes: Transcolonial Collaboration in the Revolutionary Americas (Volume 12) (FlashPoints)

The Fear of French Negroes is an interdisciplinary study that explores how people of African descent responded to the collapse and reconsolidation of colonial life in the aftermath of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1845). Using visual culture, popular music and dance, periodical literature, historical memoirs, and state papers, Sara E. Johnson examines the migration of people, ideas, and practices across imperial boundaries. Building on previous scholarship on black internationalism, she traces expressions of both aesthetic and experiential transcolonial black politics across the Caribbean world, including Hispaniola, Louisiana and the Gulf South, Jamaica, and Cuba. Johnson examines the lives and work of figures as diverse as armed black soldiers and privateers, female performers, and newspaper editors to argue for the existence of "competing inter-Americanisms" as she uncovers the struggle for unity amidst the realities of class, territorial, and linguistic diversity. These stories move beyond a consideration of the well-documented anxiety insurgent blacks occasioned in slaveholding systems to refocus attention on the wide variety of strategic alliances they generated in their quests for freedom, equality and profit. Cover Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Preface: The Fear of “French Negroes” Introduction: Mobile Culture, Mobilized Politics 1. Canine Warfare in the Circum-Caribbean Cuban Bloodhounds and Transcolonial Terror Networks A Discursive Battle of Wills Culture and Public Memory 2. “Une et indivisible?” The Struggle for Freedom in Hispaniola “L’île d’Haiti forme le territoire de la République”: The Early Years of Antislavery Border Politics The Meaning of Freedom Haitian Generals: Ogou Iconography on Both Sides of the Border Guangua pangnol pi fort pasé ouanga haitien 3. “Negroes of the Most Desperate Character”: Privateering and Slavery in the Gulf of Mexico Race, Privateering, and the Gulf South in the 1810s To Fight Ably and Valiantly against One’s Own Race The Cultural Afterlives of Impossible Patriots 4. French Set Girls and Transcolonial Performance The French Set Girls Reconsidering the Migration of “French” Cultural Capital Embodied Wisdom and Attunement Circum-Caribbean Repercussions of Saint-Domingue Legacies 5. “Sentinels on the Watch-Tower of Freedom”: The Black Press of the 1830s and 1840s Periodical Campaigns: Promoting an African Diasporic Literacy Project Class, Migration, and Transcolonial Labor Relations Caribbean Federation: Advancing National Interests through a Regionalist Lens Epilogue Notes Works Consulted and Discography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y 1 Canine Warfare In The Circum-caribbean 21 -- Cuban Bloodhounds And Transcolonial Terror Networks 23 -- A Discursive Battle Of Wills 38 -- Culture And Public Memory 44 -- 2 Une Et Indivisible? The Struggle For Freedom In Hispaniola 49 -- L'île D'haiti Forme Le Territoire De La République: The Early Years Of Antislavery Border Politics 52 -- The Meaning Of Freedom 70 -- Haitian Generals: Ogou Iconography On Both Sides Of The Border 74 -- Guangua Pangnol Pi Fort Pasé Ouanga Haitien 83 -- 3 Negroes Of The Most Desperate Character: Privateering And Slavery In The Gulf Of Mexico 91 -- Race, Privateering, And The Gulf South In The 1810s 95 -- To Fight Ably And Valiantly Against One's Own Race 104 -- The Cultural Afterlives Of Impossible Patriots 114 -- 4 French Set Girls And Transcolonial Performance 122 -- The French Set Girls 125 -- Reconsidering The Migration Of French Cultural Capital 132 -- Embodied Wisdom And Attunement 139 -- Circum-caribbean Repercussions Of Saint-domingue 144 -- Legacies 155 -- 5 Sentinels On The Watch-tower Of Freedom: The Black Press Of The 1830s And 1840s 157 -- Periodical Campaigns: Promoting An African Diasporic Literacy Project 161 -- Class, Migration, And Transcolonial Labor Relations 173 -- Caribbean Federation: Advancing National Interests Through A Regionalist Lens 180. Sara E. Johnson. Includes Bibliographical References, Discography And Index. The Fear of French Negroes is an interdisciplinary study that explores how people of African descent responded to the collapse and reconsolidation of colonial life in the aftermath of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1845). Using visual culture, popular music and dance, periodical literature, historical memoirs, and state papers, Sara E. Johnson examines the migration of people, ideas, and practices across imperial boundaries. Building on previous scholarship on black internationalism, she traces expressions of both aesthetic and experiential transcolonial black politics across the Caribbean world, including Hispaniola, Louisiana and the Gulf South, Jamaica, and Cuba. Johnson examines the lives and work of figures as diverse as armed black soldiers and privateers, female performers, and newspaper editors to argue for the existence of "competing inter Americanisms" as she uncovers the struggle for unity amidst the realities of class, territorial, and linguistic diversity. These stories move beyond a consideration of the well-documented anxiety insurgent blacks occasioned in slaveholding systems to refocus attention on the wide variety of strategic alliances blacks generated in their quests for freedom, equality, and profit. Book jacket This book explores how people of African descent responded to the collapse and reconsolidation of colonial life in the aftermath of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1845). It examines the migration of people, ideas, and practices across imperial boundaries and traces expressions of both aesthetic and experiential transcolonial black politics across the Caribbean world, including Hispaniola, Louisiana and the Gulf South, Jamaica, and Cuba. It looks at the lives and work of figures as diverse as armed black soldiers and privateers, female performers, and newspaper editors to argue for the existence of "competing inter-Americanisms"to uncover the struggle for unity amidst the realities of class, territorial, and linguistic diversity