Acknowledgments

Timeka, you are the love of my life. Cairo, you are the best guy I know. Together, you make my life spunky, surreal, and altogether blessed. I can’t believe how lucky I am to share life with you, and I commit this work to each of you.

The research for this book was made possible by general support that I have received over the course of my professional career at the University of Michigan, Macalester College, the Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Washington. A Career Enhancement Fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation (now Institute for Citizens & Scholars) provided me with several months of time to devote to research. Thank you, Robert Vinson, for serving as my mentor during that fellowship tenure—you took a chance on me and showered me with invaluable wisdom. Thank you, good sir.

I could not have conducted the archival research for this book without the generous patience and work of library and archival staffs in England (Durham University and Birmingham University), Italy (Father Prandina at the Comboni Mission in Rome), South Sudan (Youssef Onyalla at the South Sudan National Archive), and the United States (the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, the Amistad Research Center, the Baker Library, the Hoover Institution, the University of Washington Libraries’ Special Collections, the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University, and the Presbyterian Historical Society).

Portions of chapter 1 appear in “‘Negro Canaan’: Cotton, Tuskegee, and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan,” Journal of African American History 105, no. 1 (Winter 2020): 28–55. Thank you, JAAH editors (particularly Pero Dagbovie).

The research for this book and its writing occurred amid some major professional changes. From navigating an assistant professorship to attaining tenure, changing institutions (and coasts), sojourning through the global pandemic, and living while Black in the age of Donald Trump, I could not have done it without support. Many thanks to my Penn State History and African Studies peeps, including but not limited to Alicia Decker, Michael Kulikowski, Richard Mbih, Crystal Sanders, Michelle Sikes, Ellen Stroud, and Kevin Thomas. Terrence Johnson and Derek Peterson, you will never know how much your mentorship has meant to me. I count it an honor to look up to you.

Many, many thanks to the folks at Cornell University Press for publishing this book and helping to make it the best it could be. This includes Sarah Grossman, the series editors, and the anonymous reviewers. Outside of the press, thank you, Bill Barnett, for your developmental editing.

While much of this book was conceptualized and written during my time in State College, Pennsylvania, it was completed after my family had moved across the country to the University of Washington (UW). I remain flabbergasted at the way that the UW Department of History has embraced me and welcomed me into their community. Thank you, Glennys Young, for your leadership; Lynn Thomas and Stephanie Smallwood, for your wisdom and mentorship; and everyone else in the department who have made me feel home. Outside of the history department, I extend many thanks to Danny Hoffman, Ralina Joseph, Maya Smith, Jim Wellman, and everyone in the UW African Studies Program. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Finally, as in all things, I thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You provided the vision, established the work of my hands, and led me up this mountain. Thank you, friend.