Update on progress of the project

A quick note for current contributors: the encyclopedia moves forward on several tracks simultaneously. Here's the synopsis: Two large batches of articles have been fully processed, totalling over 100 articles. Another 100 are in the last throes of editing and acceptance. 50 more are going through the first edit, and about 100 more have been assigned and I am waiting for the drafts.

If you turned in an article before August 2007, my understanding from the press is that you should have been paid. There are a few exceptions, of course,, but check with me if you haven't received a check. If you turned in an article since the beginning of that month, the text is definitely still somewhere in the editing pipeline.

If you have questions about your piece, please email me directly at eeb36@cornell.edu. By the way, I'm always on the lookout for documents and/or illustrations for the project, so let me know about those if you have any ideas.

"Black Loyalists" from the American Revolution

Here's a new source, or rather a new way to get access to an older source. Betty Wood put me on to it the other day with a great paper she presented here at Cornell.

http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/301/ic/cdc/blackloyalists/index.htm

The source is the "Book of Negroes," a roster of African and African-American people who left New York with the British in 1783 on "Evacuation Day." Many, if not most of them ended up in Canada. Some of the entries give glimpses of their lives before Evacuation Day: names of previous enslavers, where they came from, etc.

Open for business

This blog is the internet center for an ongoing historical project: The Encyclopedia of Slavery in the Americas, (New York: Facts on File, 2009, forthcoming), edited by Edward E. Baptist. Here you will find information about the encyclopedia and how to contribute articles.

Let's start with the basics. What is the encyclopedia? Well, Facts on File has commissioned me to edit a three-volume encyclopedia on the history of slavery in the Americas. I have assigned about 300 articles, but at least 150 remain to be written. They cover all aspects of slavery and emancipation in the Americas, from South America to North America, and from the 15th century to the 20th.

Who can write for the encyclopedia? I am seeking authors who can write with some authority for an audience of undergraduates, lay historians, and professional historians. There is no specific set of credentials that is required. although of course professional historians and history graduate students are often very well-prepared for this kind of writing.

How does one contribute? Just send an email to me at eeb36@cornell.edu, and we'll start the process of figuring out what entries might be of particular interest to you, assigning a due date, and setting a compensation level. Looking forward to hearing from you.