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Julia Gaffield, PhD @juliagaffield.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I am so grateful to Matthew Alexander Randolph for this thoughtful review of _I Have Avenged America_ in Eighteenth-Century Studies!

With a superb epilogue that reckons with Dessalines’s contemporary legacy, Gaffield has penned an impressive revisionist history that balances the historiographic scales. Focusing on both Dessalines’s life (what happened) and how he is (mis)remembered across space and time in second-hand accounts, the author displays methodological dexterity in close-reading and discourse analysis. I admire Gaffield’s compassion for the difficult choices her subject made as French colonists conspired against the birth of the Haitian nation. Dessalines, this maligned slave-turned-emperor of Haiti, preserved the precarious sovereignty of the Haitian people by employing any means necessary. Anti-colonial violence was a last resort against those who refused to give up their ambition to bring back slavery, unwilling to surrender their prized colony to a Black-led and freedom-for-all future they never wanted to imagine.

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Julia Gaffield, PhD @juliagaffield.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

My Dessalines jersey arrived today! I'm so happy that Saeta is restocking the original, even though FIFA banned it! theconversation.com/fifas-haiti-...

A bright blue soccer jersey made by Saeta for the Haitian World Cup team. The jersey features a group of people, one of whom is holding the Haitian flag. The jersey was banned by FIFA as "political."

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Julia Gaffield, PhD @juliagaffield.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

My author copies of the paperback of _I Have Avenged America_ arrived! (Read it to learn why the Haitian #WorldCup soccer jerseys were rejected as "political") The official release date is July 13! @yalepress.bsky.social

Cover of a book titled "I Have Avenged America: Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Haiti's Fight for Freedom," featuring a painting of Dessalines by Ulrick Jean-Pierre.

Back cover of "I Have Avenged America" featuring blurbs by Ada Ferrer, Marlene Daut, Lyonel Trouillot, Carolyn Fick, and Jean Casimir.

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Julia Gaffield, PhD @juliagaffield.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

My pre-ordered copy of @unlawfulentries.bsky.social's book arrived! Can't wait to read this very necessary book!

A photo of a hand holding Anna O. Law's pathbreaking book, "Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship," in front of a bookshelf that holds books and a lovely pothos plant.

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Julia Gaffield, PhD @juliagaffield.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

A quotation from my first book that I think about often these days...

Screenshot of text that says: "Sir, I can liken this proclamation," he derided, "to nothing but the idle vapourings of a fettered maniac, menacing, from the grates of his cell, the overthrow of the world."

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Julia Gaffield, PhD @juliagaffield.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

The audiobook for _I Have Avenged America_ will be available on March 10! @yalepress.bsky.social

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Julia Gaffield, PhD @juliagaffield.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

A great review of _I Have Avenged America_ by Carolyn Fick for The Journal of Military History!! 🙌 @yalepress.bsky.social

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Julia Gaffield, PhD @juliagaffield.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

On January 1, 1804, revolutionaries established the independent country of Haiti, the first nation to permanently ban slavery. As we begin a year engulfed by the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence, it’s worth reading the Haitian Declaration of Independence in full. 🇭🇹

Original broadside printing of the Haitian Declaration of Independence. The document is titled "Liberté ou la Mort" and "Armée Indigène," and it is held by the National Archives of the United Kingdom (call number MFQ 1/184).

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Julia Gaffield, PhD @juliagaffield.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

I've been lucky enough to do a bunch of podcasts, interviews, and talks, but the two events that have been the most memorable were a talk that I gave at the Embassy of the Republic of Haiti and a panel at the @miamibookfair.bsky.social --these were truly special events!!

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Julia Gaffield, PhD @juliagaffield.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Holiday book recommendations from Bertrhude Albert over on IG! 😄

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Julia Gaffield, PhD @juliagaffield.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

I will be at the @miamibookfair.bsky.social with Marlene Daut. Olive Senior, and Chantalle Verna next weekend! Come hang out! #ReadCaribbean

A poster for the Miami Book Fair with photos of Marlene Daut, Olive Senior, Julia Gaffield, and Chantalle Verna, announcing the title of the panel, "Reclaiming History: Power, Resistance, and Cultural Memory," and the time and location of the panel, Saturday, November 22, 2025 at 2pm in Building 3, Room 8302.

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Julia Gaffield, PhD @juliagaffield.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

In 1903, the Haitian historian Jules Rosemond argued in preparation for the centenary of Haitian independence that Jean-Jacques Dessalines was born on September 20, 1758, and today we commemorate the life of this leader of the Haitian Revolution.

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Julia Gaffield, PhD @juliagaffield.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

The little decoration that appears throughout my book is a printer’s ornament from the pamphlet version of the Haitian Declaration of Independence! I thought it would be a nice touch for the design, and I’m so happy @yalepress.bsky.social made it work!

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Julia Gaffield, PhD @juliagaffield.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Author copies have arrived!!!! It's real!!! @yalepress.bsky.social yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...

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Julia Gaffield, PhD @juliagaffield.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

Happy Publication Day to Marlene Daut!!! *The First and Last King of Haiti* is out NOW!!!! I am so grateful to have had the chance to celebrate this brilliant scholar and this beautiful book this weekend! @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/673225...

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Julia Gaffield, PhD @juliagaffield.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Pre-order Marlene Daut's FIRST AND LAST KING OF HAITI!!! Out January 2025!! Check out the US and UK covers!! 🤩 www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/673225...

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Julia Gaffield, PhD @juliagaffield.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

I am thrilled to share the cover of my forthcoming book, I Have Avenged America: Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Haiti’s Fight for Freedom (June 2025 @yalepress.bsky.social) The stunning painting is by Haitian-American artist Ulrick Jean-Pierre (ulrickjeanpierre.com) yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...

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