Beyond Jim Crow: Black Freedom in the American West

该项目探索了非洲裔美国人在美国西部（1850-1900）取得的前所未有的成功，重点关注洛杉矶充满活力的黑人社区。它挑战了普遍的共识，即这一时期代表了学者们所说的现代非裔美国人历史的“最低点”。这是吉姆·克劳时代的开始，见证了美国南部和北部部分地区黑人的种族隔离和政治权利被剥夺。然而在美国西部，非裔美国人成功地对抗了吉姆·克劳的最坏影响。通过对黑人政治活动、财产所有权和商业实践的研究，我的项目揭示了19世纪晚期加州非洲裔美国人令人惊讶的力量，以及吉姆·克劳的局限性。毕蒂·梅森是这个社区的主要推动者和建筑师，因此这个项目以她的职业生涯为中心。梅森出生于乔治亚州的一个奴隶家庭，在19世纪中期被迫迁徙到全国各地。1856年，她在洛杉矶赢得了自由，然后开始用她在这个不断发展的城市做护士和助产士挣来的钱投资当地的房地产。这些投资为家族积累了价值30万美元（约合今天的900万美元）的财富。她还支持慈善机构、医院和监狱，并共同创立了洛杉矶的第一个黑人教堂，直到今天，这个教堂仍是社区的支柱。梅森的个人经历解释了美国最成功的黑人社区之一的崛起。该项目将产生三个主要成果：1)毕蒂·梅森的职业生涯和洛杉矶黑人起源的第一本书长度研究；2)梅森从奴隶到自由和财富的旅程的生动历史；3)申请将六个与美国西部奴隶制和解放历史有关的遗址列入美国历史地标名录。重大的政治发展和新的倡议使这个项目特别及时和重要。2020年乔治·弗洛伊德（George Floyd）谋杀案引发了对种族和奴隶制遗留问题的反思，不仅在美国，而且在全球。作为回应，美国国家公园管理局和洛杉矶市分别发起了（时间敏感的）倡议，以确定、登记和保护与非洲裔美国人经历有关的历史遗迹。根据这个项目的研究，我将为这两个组织撰写关于加州历史黑人遗址的报告。我的作品也加入了关于奴隶制遗产和恢复的可能性的讨论。加利福尼亚州最近成立了一个特别工作组——这是美国首个此类工作组——建议为奴隶后代制定一项赔偿计划。我对洛杉矶早期黑人社区的研究将通过详细描述前奴隶在加州面临的挑战，为这场辩论提供信息。简而言之，这个项目有助于更全面、更丰富地理解美国反对种族压迫的斗争——以及一些来之不易的成功。这个项目虽然雄心勃勃，但在两年的奖学金期内是可行的，正如我过去的研究领导所表明的那样。我已经为这个项目的专著获得了一份出书合同（尽管还需要做更多的研究）。图形小说将基于从专著的研究，因此我将能够完成一个完整的故事板-即一个详细的面板-面板大纲-在奖学金期结束。我也有丰富的基金管理经验。从2019年到2022年，我共同指导了国家人文基金会（NEH）的一项合作研究资助，通过这项资助，我建立了一个由学者、倡导者和政府官员组成的网络，他们将对这个项目起到重要作用。然而，来自人权委员会的资助不会重复新健康研究所资助的任何工作。相反，它将把从过去的资助中学到的技能和形成的网络用于一项重大的新研究，并提供许多参与机会和影响途径。

The project explores the unprecedented successes of African Americans in the U.S. West (1850-1900), with a focus on the vibrant Black community of Los Angeles. It challenges the common consensus that this period represented what scholars call the 'nadir' of modern African American history. This was the beginning of the Jim Crow era, which witnessed the segregation and political disfranchisement of Black people across the American South and parts of the North. Yet in the U.S. West, African Americans successfully combatted the worst effects of Jim Crow. Through a study of Black political activism, property ownership, and business practices, my project reveals the surprising power of African Americans in late 19th-century California, as well as the limits of Jim Crow.Biddy Mason was the principal enabler and architect of this community, and thus the project centres on her career. Born into slavery in Georgia, Mason was forced across the country in the mid-1800s. She won her freedom in L.A. in 1856, and then began investing in local real estate with money she earned from her work as a nurse and midwife to the growing city. Those investments seeded a family fortune worth $300,000 (roughly $9 million today). She also supported charities, hospitals, and prisons, and co-founded LA's first Black church, a pillar of the community to this day. Mason's personal history explains the rise of one of the most successful Black communities in America. The project will result in three major outputs: 1) the first book-length study of Biddy Mason's career and the origins of Black Los Angeles; 2) a graphic history of Mason's journey from slavery to freedom and fortune; 3) an application to induct six sites - all related to the history of slavery and emancipation in the American West - into a US register of historic landmarks. Major political developments and new initiatives make this project particularly timely and important. The 2020 murder of George Floyd has prompted a reckoning over race and the legacies of enslavement, not only in the U.S. but across the globe. In response, the National Park Service and the City of Los Angeles have launched separate (time-sensitive) initiatives to identify, register, and protect historic sites related to the African American experience. Drawing on this project's research, I will write reports for both organisations on historic Black sites in California. My work also joins a growing discussion over the legacies of slavery and the possibility of restitution. The state of California recently launched a task force - the first of its kind within the US - to recommend a reparations programme for descendants of slaves. My research into the early Black community of Los Angeles will inform that debate, by detailing the challenges that former slaves faced in California. In short, this project contributes toward a fuller, richer understanding of the struggle - and some of the hard-won successes - against racial oppression in America.Although ambitious, the project is feasible within the two-year fellowship period, as my past research leadership makes clear. I have already secured a book contract for the project's monograph (though more research remains to be done). The graphic novel will be based on research from the monograph, and thus I will be able to complete a full storyboard - i.e. a detailed panel-by-panel outline - by the end of the fellowships period. I also have extensive grant management experience. From 2019-2022, I co-directed a Collaborative Research Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), through which I built a network of scholars, advocates, and public officials who will be instrumental to this project. Funding from the AHRC would not, however, duplicate any of the work funded by the NEH. Rather, it would deploy the skills learned and networks formed from that past grant toward a major new study, with numerous engagement opportunities and pathways to impact.