The best part about completing this book is having the chance to thank the various people and institutions that made it possible. My debts are numerous. This project was brought to life by an amazing set of archivists who answered my vague and rambling inquiries with patience, humor, and unstinting professionalism. I would like to thank the staff at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and the Schomburg Centre for Research in Black Culture in New York; Mary Ann Quinn at the Rockefeller Archive Centre; Fath Ruffins at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; Earl Spamer at the American Philosophical Society in Pennsylvania; and Richard Boylen and Walter Hill at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. Mr. Hill’s immense knowledge of the National Archives and Records Administration’s holdings in African American history saved me innumerable hours and led me on many productive detours. Even in the last stages of a long illness, Mr. Hill remained a model of dignity and grace.
Initial research was facilitated by grants from the Department of History, University of Toronto; Department of Humanities, University of Toronto Scarborough; and the Centre for American Studies (CSUS) at Trinity College, University of Toronto. Further assistance was provided by grants from the Rockefeller Archives Centre in New York and a Library Fellowship at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. Final funds were provided by a Major Research Grant, Travel Grant, and SEED funding from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Winnipeg. Many thanks to Clara Platter, Dorothea Stillman Halliday, and Constance Grady at NYU Press for guiding me through the long and often confusing publishing processes. Thanks to the anonymous readers for NYU and to Jodi Narde for her rigorous and expert editing of the final manuscript. Thanks to Daniel Bender and Kimberley Phillips for including this book in the Culture, Labor, History series. Parts of chapter 1 appeared previously as “‘Mortality as the Life Story of a People’: Frederick L. Hoffman and Actuarial Narratives of African American Extinction, 1896–1915” in the Canadian Review of American Studies 43, no.3 (2013) and I am grateful for the permission to make use of that material.
Over the years I received invaluable guidance from a diverse group of scholars. Thanks to Stephen Brooke and Marc Stein at York University for providing wonderful models of engaged and rigorous scholarship and setting a young undergraduate on the path—for better or worse—to a life in academia. At the University of Toronto I would like to thank Elspeth Brown, Russ Kazal, Yonatan Eyal, Kenneth Bartlett, and Randall Hansen for their support. Most importantly, I was fortunate to have a remarkably supportive and gifted set of advisors who enhanced my graduate school experience every step of the way. Michael “discourse and paradigms” Wayne provided much-needed intellectual and personal perspective in navigating graduate school. I am forever grateful to Rick Halpern who fought for and supported me in every possible way, from my first day of graduate school to the very last. Daniel Bender was a model advisor, providing any and all forms of intellectual, financial, and emotional support. I simply could not have asked for a better mentor and friend.
A wonderful cohort of my peers helped relieve much of the isolation, tedium, and anxiety of graduate school and shaped the project in unintended and unexpected ways. Thanks to Nancy Catton, Benjamin Pottruff, Nathan Cardon, Camille Begin, Nadia Jones Gailani, Holly Karibo, Ian Rocksborough-Smith, and Jared Toney. My friends and family outside the program sustained and supported me throughout the years. Thank you to my best man Damian Temporale and his partner, Tina Burke, whose quiet strength and compassion for their wonderful family is an inspiration. To old friends, Matthew Nailer, Mike Mjanes, Ian Gooley, Sandra and Brian Neary, Patricia Moretti, and Natalie Boccia—and to Michael Hersh for his friendship and hospitality during many research trips to NYC. To Dr. Jeremy Shtern, my co-conspirator in academia and baseball analysis, an excellent and committed scholar, confidant, and dear friend. Very special thanks to Davarian Baldwin, for profound and consistent insights and for being a model of scholarly rigor, dedication, and collegiality, and a testament that exceptional scholarship can and should matter within and beyond the ivory tower.
I would also like to extend my thanks to all my colleagues at the University of Winnipeg, especially those in the Department of History for creating a collegial environment in which to shepherd this project through its final stages. I am especially grateful to the departmental assistant Angela Joy Schippers who patiently helped navigate me through my move to UW. Special thanks to Eliakim Sibanda, Royden Loewen, Ryan Eyford, Janis Thiessen, and James Hanley. Thanks also to Carlos Colorado, Jason Hannan, and Peter Ives for helping foster a vibrant and vital academic community at UW for young and engaged scholars. Thanks to all my students who helped shape this project in unexpected ways. Special thanks to Richard Raber, Steven Dueck, and Joel Trono Doerksen. Thank you to Alexandra Judge for her research assistance. Finally, thanks to Dr. Matt Dyce, a brilliant and generous scholar whom I am proud to call a friend. And to my old friend Jamie Phibbs and his lovely family who have been a well of generosity and friendship since our fortuitous reunion in Winnipeg.
This project would simply not have been possible without the unwavering love and encouragement of my family. My incredible in-laws—Tony and Pina Moretti—fed, clothed, housed, and loved us, while providing invaluable childcare. Though they will likely never read this book, it exists because of their remarkable lifetimes of sacrifices—a debt which I can never begin to repay. Thanks to Domenico Romanelli in Italy for all his support for our family. All my love to my brother Matthew Lawrie, a decent, kind, and talented man, and to his wonderful partner Sarah McMulkin. To my father, Dr. Bruce Lawrie, who through a lifetime of unconditional love and support introduced me to the joys of the life of the mind and the need to reconcile it with an insistent humanity. To my mother, Linda Lawrie—the strongest person I know—who fortified me with her love and strength. I love you both very much.
To my wife, Rose, my love, my partner in parenting, my confidant, and my best friend. Without her constant support, sacrifice, and encouragement, this book, and indeed my entire career, would simply not be possible. I am sorry for the mistakes I have made in the past, and the many I am sure to make in the future, but know that I love you. From the day you first sat beside me in a dreary undergraduate European history lecture at York University, you have brought laughter, passion, and unalloyed happiness into my life. Ti amo mia tascabile venere.
Finally, this book is dedicated to our children: To our precious son, William, born during its initial stages, and whose finger prints are quite literally all over the project. His insatiable enthusiasms and diatribes about everything and anything from the respective merits of dinosaurs versus mammals, Star Wars heroes versus villains, Vikings versus pirates, the intricacies of the solar system, Greek Myths, Minecraft, comedic timing, and the perfect knuckleball were always a welcome (often in hindsight . . .) distraction. To our darling daughter, Zoë—my sweet little peanut—born during the book’s final stages, and whose mischievous zest for life, unconditional empathy, and boundless curiosity are a source of constant delight. William and Zoë, your presence in my life is a sublime gift; you are my pride, my joy, and my hope.
Paul R. D. Lawrie
Winnipeg, Manitoba
October, 2015