Acknowledgments

I did not just write this book with the Southern Outrages, I also wrote it for them. Since May 2020, we have convened on Thursday nights to think, laugh, and learn together. Samuel Abramson, Lauren Brand, D. Andrew Johnson, Sheridan Wright Kennedy, Keith McCall, David Ponton, Whitney Nell Stewart, Edward Valentin Jr., Ben Wright, and Miller Shores Wright read and critiqued most every word of this book with the kind of love, empathy, and support that most scholars only dream of. Thank y’all for everything. More Thursdays. More Outrage. More life.

I am especially indebted to Andrew Johnson, who helped me develop this project in text messages, conversations, and writing retreats. Since graduate school, our friendship has evolved into my favorite place to practice history. Andrew, I consider it a privilege to call you my Write or Die, and I look forward to learning with and from you for years to come.

I began working on this project when I was a graduate student at Rice University. I could not have started or finished this book without the mentorship and guidance of W. Caleb McDaniel, Jim Sidbury, Edward Cox, Allen J. Matusow, Alida C. Metcalf, Fay Yarbrough, Lora Wildenthal, Peter C. Caldwell, Moramay López-Alonso, John Boles, Jacqueline Jones, Jeff Forret, and Jennifer Bratter.

I started transforming my studies into a book when I was the Bonquois Postdoctoral Fellow in Women’s History in the Gulf South at the Newcomb College Institute of Tulane University. I am sincerely grateful to the faculty and staff at Newcomb, as their support was instrumental in my development as a historian and a scholar.

I am similarly grateful for the support of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the Economic History Association, the American Historical Association, the University of North Carolina’s Southern Historical Collection, the Humanities Research Center at Rice University, the American Society for Legal History, Duke University’s John Hope Franklin Research Center, and the Ethel and Herman L. Midlo Center for New Orleans Studies at the University of New Orleans. Archivists at the New Orleans Public Library and the New Orleans Notarial Archives offered vital insights and support that made examining thousands of sets of records possible and enjoyable.

It is not lost on me that I had the time and resources necessary to complete this project because I am an assistant professor of history at Emory University. From the moment I set foot on campus, the faculty, staff, and administration at Emory have made sure I was supported, in every sense of the word. I consider getting to teach, research, and learn at Emory the greatest privilege of my professional life. I am especially grateful to Patrick N. Allitt, Erica Bruchko, Adriana Chira, Joseph Crespino, Astrid M. Eckert, Becky Herring, Jazlyn Ann Jones, Daniel LaChance, Jeffrey Lesser, Judith A. Miller, Matthew J. Payne, Jonathan Prude, Thomas D. Rogers, Allison C. Rollins, Walter C. Rucker, Ellie R. Schainker, Kylie Smith, Sharon T. Strocchia, Allen E. Tullos, Brian Vick, Jason Morgan Ward, Katie B. Wilson, Yanna Yannakakis, and last but never least, the members of the Wolf Pack, Carl Suddler and Chris Suh.

Tiera Ndlovu worked to fact check my freedom suit data amidst the beginnings of a global pandemic. I have learned so much from getting to know her and reading her work. Thank you for helping me move forward with this project. Hannah Charak picked up where Tiera left off, critiquing the entire manuscript and tracking down sources that had long eluded me. There are few historians I trust more than Hannah. Wherever she decides to channel her considerable, dogged research skills in the future, I am certain this world will be better for it.

As I worked to complete this project, I had the pleasure of learning from and receiving feedback from some very generous folks, including Caitlin Rosenthal, Alejandra Dubcovsky, Stephanie E. Jones Rogers, Alexandra J. Finley, Marisa J. Fuentes, and Amrita Chakrabarti Myers. I also had the opportunity to workshop parts of the book with several groups, including the Southern Historical Association’s Junior Scholars Workshop, the “Visions of Slavery: Histories, Memories, and Mobilizations of Unfreedom in the Black Atlantic” Mellon Sawyer Seminar, and the “Race and Slavery Working Group.” I am grateful to the participants and organizers for including me and giving me the opportunity to refine my work.

In the process of writing this book, I had the opportunity to conduct a manuscript workshop. Ariela Gross, Jessica Marie Johnson, Joshua Rothman, Daniel LaChance, Judith Miller, Jonathan Prude, Tom Rogers, Carl Suddler, and Chris Suh graciously agreed to participate, and each provided invaluable feedback that was instrumental in my getting this thing across the finish line. I learned so much from working with y’all, I am sincerely grateful for your time and efforts, and I look forward to returning the favor someday.

It has been my good fortune to have friends and family whose care and encouragement has never wavered. I am exceedingly grateful for Nora Venegas, Joe Galindo, Jorge Galindo, Sarah Peña, Nora Montalvo-Liendo, Teri Montalvo, Tony J. Carrizales, Diego Medellin, Guadalupe García, Ana Goñi-Lessan, LaNita Gregory Campbell, Tara Johnson, Ruby Johnson, Cole Johnson, Brad Rothwell, Peggy Rothwell, and Chris Rothwell. Thank you to the Primas, Lily, Jolene, and Tito, for their ongoing, insatiable commitment to distraction and chaos. My brothers and parents, Rene P. Montalvo and Norma Venegas Montalvo, have been a source of unyielding support and love. Thank y’all for believing in me.

Finally, I never miss a chance to call my friendship with William Ryan Rothwell the blessing of my life. Without him, this book and I would be incomplete. Bill, thank you for being my best friend, and thank you for letting me be yours.