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Dr. Brigitte Fielder

@brigfield.bsky.social
1.8K followers 513 following 19 posts

Prof. of African American literature before 1900ish, Black children’s lit. 1773-now, & other things (neverending)19th Century. Co-editor, J19. Co-founder, TaughtByLiterature.org. I like birds & trains. Also cats. Mon français est nul. It’s “bridge-it.”

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Reposted by Dr. Brigitte Fielder
Manisha Sinha @profmsinha.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Historian of abolition here, history tells us how we got here, to put it succinctly “John Brown was hanged for treason and Robert E. Lee was not.”
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Ooooh. This sounds exciting!
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Yes! Reading people writing about him in Black newspapers was also super helpful to me. I think only people who also cared about Black people (mostly Black people themselves) actually understood him, even if they disagreed with his methods.
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
I also find Brown super interesting. For folks wanting reading recs: Osbourne Perry Anderson fought alongside Brown and I believe was the only Black man to escape being killed there or executed later. He wrote about Brown in A voice from Harper's Ferry. archive.org/details/voic...
archive.org
A voice from Harper's Ferry : a narrative of events at Harper's Ferry ; with incidents prior and subsequent to its capture by Captain Brown and his men : Anderson, Osborne P. (Osborne Perry), 1830-187...
By Osborne P. Anderson, one of the number: t.p
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
In my reading, Black writers are less likely to write about Brown in this way & it’s super interesting. I’ve actually written about this here: muse.jhu.edu/pub/8/articl... (feel feee to dm me if you don’t have access but would like it.)
muse.jhu.edu
Project MUSE -- Verification required!
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
I guess I just don’t think “regional humor” that pretends Black people don’t exist is funny.
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
This post pretends the Great Migration never happened.
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Oooooohhhhh. Thanks for the heads up; I hadn’t come across this!
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Reposted by Dr. Brigitte Fielder
Wheatley Census @wheatleycensus.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
If you have a copy near you, please send us information about it! We want to proliferate copy-specific data and you can tell us more about provenance, marginalia, bindings, and other copy-level data! Please share that and photos here: blog.wheatleycensus.org/2025/11/08/h...
blog.wheatleycensus.org
Help expand the Wheatley Census – Wheatley Census Blog
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Reposted by Dr. Brigitte Fielder
Wheatley Census @wheatleycensus.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Pleased to announce the Wheatley Census is ready for 1.0 public release! As detailed a census as possible (right now) of the first six editions - those printed in the 18th century - of Phillis Wheatley’s Poems on Various Subjects, is available here: www.wheatleycensus.org.
wheatleycensus.org
Wheatley Census
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
A lovely mentor of mine died extremely young of colon cancer that wasn’t detected with cologuard. She urged everyone to have a colonoscopy.
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
I’m always grateful to be able to think and write about Frances Harper.
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Like, they would have better luck telling us they were cutting a percentage of our pay bc that has actually happened before.
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
I cackled! This was the fakest shit I have ever seen. 😂
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Same!
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
I have so many complaints! That review will likely never see the light of day as such but someday I’ll write something about what this is doing within the broader mix of children’s historical literature (about which I’m much more hopeful).
complaints.review
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
I feel extra bad about the children’s versions. The children’s lit authors he’s collaborated with there are legit. I’m telling you we’re gonna find out how broadly they’ve reached. Its even worse that these are getting framed as the authoritative text in the subject. It’s a damn shame.
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Also, just count the women mentioned in this book before you get to Angela Davis. I’ve written sad footnotes about that.
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
I wrote a review of all his children’s iterations of this, that never got published because pandemic and changed editors, etc. The worst pet is that teachers are already assigning this as *the* thing. Re-teaching those kids is gonna be wild because they will assume they’re really knowledgeable.
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
10/10 no notes!
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 26/01/2025
Every month can be Black History Month if we just choose to celebrate Black history all year round!
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Dr. Brigitte Fielder @brigfield.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Black children’s book author Lorenz Graham wrote TWO children’s books about John Brown! - a biography (1980) & a picture book about the raid on Harper’s Ferry (1972). I wrote about them both here: www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/11...
mdpi.com
John Brown, Black History, and Black Childhood: Contextualizing Lorenz Graham’s John Brown Books
Lorenz Graham wrote two children’s books about the (in)famous abolitionist, John Brown—a picture book, John Brown’s Raid: A Picture History of the Attack on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (1972) and a biogr...
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