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Acknowledgments

I

t has very literally taken a community to create this

project. As you might imagine, the process of identify-

ing and compiling the information in this volume has

been an overwhelming, daunting, and ultimately thrilling

experience. As a result, there are many people who deserve

our thanks and gratitude.

First, I would like to thank my family and loved ones

who have supported me personally and professionally. I owe

everything I am to their love and support: Curtis J. Austin,

Sandy Alexander, Michelle Alexander, Nicole Marie Stew-

art, Jonathan Carter Stewart, Corinne Alexander Stewart,

and Carter Stewart.

My deepest intellectual, political, and spiritual inspira-

tion comes from the people I encountered at the Africana

Studies and Research Center at Cornell University. Al-

though many years have passed since my time as a gradu-

ate student at Cornell, I still consider the Africana Studies

and Research Center my political and intellectual home. In

the nurturing environment of the Africana Center, Ujamaa

Residential College, and the Southside Community Cen-

ter, I learned to love and appreciate the history and culture

of African peoples. I have dedicated my life and career to

the founding mission of Africana Studies, particularly its

commitment to the rigorous study of the history, culture,

intellectual development, and social organization of black

people and cultures in the Americas, Africa, and the Carib-

bean; the need to remain grounded in the black community;

and the vital importance of articulating a political agenda

for black empowerment. In that spirit, I would like to thank

the scholars who have personally touched my life and pro-

vided an intellectual and political model for the study of

the African Diaspora: Margaret Washington, James Turner,

and Sterling Stuckey.

I am also deeply grateful for the intellectual commu-

nity I have developed at Th e Ohio State University, espe-

cially Lilia Fernandez, Stephanie Smith, Hasan Jeff ries,

Debra Moddelmog, Ousman Kobo, Kevin Boyle, Carol

Anderson, Mytheli Sreenivas, Koritha Mitchell, Maurice

Stevens, Wendy Smooth, Demetrius Eudell, Cheria Dial,

Judy Wu, and John Roberts. In addition, I would like to

honor the graduate student assistants who have provided

invaluable service over the years, Di Luo, Dawn Miles, and

Ernest Perry, along with the larger community of graduate

students who have encouraged this project (some of whom

have already gone on to greatness): Zawadi Barskile, Rob-

ert A. Bennett III, Ashley Bowden, Christina Bush, Tamara

Butler, Jelani Favors, Tony Gass, Nicole Jackson, Gisel Jeter,

Karen Ngonya, Jason Perkins, William Sturkey, Christianna

Th omas, Derrick White, and Noel Voltz.

Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my

co-editor, Walter Rucker, for sharing the trials and tribula-

tions of this important endeavor.

—Leslie M. Alexander