Carson Lecture - Ben Vinson III, Johns Hopkins University
Blackness Beyond Borders: African-Americans, Afromexicans, and Transnational Experiences of Blackness in National Spaces
Thursday, February 7, 2008 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
This presentation will examine the shifting experiences that African-Americans and Afromexicans have had along the U.S. border in the 19th and 20th centuries. These transnational ties serve as the
basis for a new understanding between African-Americans and Latinos. At the same time, these unique experiences compel us to re-examine what we mean by African Diaspora ties.
Ben Vinson III is Professor of Latin American History and Director of the Center for Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of Bearing Arms for His Majesty: The
Free-Colored Militia in Colonial Mexico (Stanford, 2001) and Flight: The Story of Virgil Richardson, A Tuskegee Airman in Mexico (Palgrave, 2004). He is the co-author of
Afromexico (Fondo de Cultura Economica, 2004) with Bobby Vaughn and of African Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2nd Edition (Oxford, 2007) with Herbert S. Klein. A
specialist on race in colonial Mexico, he is currently working on an analysis of the colonial Mexican caste system, particularly on racial groups that have not received much scholarly attention. In
his capacity as director of Africana Studies, he is also involved in assessing the contours of African-American and immigrant relations, especially as they relate to the African Diaspora. Dr. Vinson
has held several fellowships, including grants from the Mellon and Ford Foundations, as well as the National Humanities Center. He graduated from Columbia University (PhD 1998) and received his
bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College (1992).
