The Battle of Negro Fort with Matthew J. Clavin

Hello all! I am very happy to welcome Dr. Matthew J. Clavin to the Rogue Historian! Matt is a Professor of History at the University of Houston, where he writes and teaches in the areas of American and Atlantic history with a focus on the history of race and slavery. His most recent publication is The Battle of Negro Fort: The Rise and Fall of a Fugitive Slave Community. He is also the author of Aiming for Pensacola: Fugitive Slaves on the Atlantic and Southern Frontiers and Toussaint Louverture and the American Civil War: The Promise and Peril of a Second Haitian Revolution.

Today we had a crack at The Battle of Negro Fort - and I must say that the story is a fascinating one. For realz - anyone interested in race and its intersection with the development of the national ethos should listen to this episode. We discuss:

• The origins of the Negro Fort in Spanish Florida during the War of 1812 era

• Andrew Jackson, nationalism, and his layered identity

• The racist foundations of an expanding American slave society

• The Haitian Revolution and Toussaint Louverture

• The transformation of America as a “white republic”

• Negro Fort, fugitive slaves, and the local Native American communities

• The 1619 Project

• How to a proper segue in a podcast interview :)

Have a listen…

Lots of other studies come up in our conversation…I already mentioned Nikole Hannah-Jones’s 1619 Project, and we also mentioned Ira Berlin’s work - Many Thousands Gone would be a good place to start, and Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning. You’ll want to check out Matt’s webpage at the University of Houston - and if you want to drop him a note, he is available via email.

And please, be sure and subscribe to The Rogue Historian Podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite app so you never ever ever ever miss a show. That would be dumb.

With compliments,

Keith