February 2021; Charlottesville, VA: The University of Virginia Press is pleased to announce “The Black Soldier in War and Society: New Narratives and Critical Perspectives,” a new series for innovative scholarship on the Black military experience to highlight the diverse and complex experiences of African-descended people and to explore the implications of their participation in war.

“We are delighted to welcome this important series to UVA Press,” said the Press’s director, Suzanne Morse Moomaw. “The books in it will highlight the enormous contributions of Black soldiers in protecting our freedoms over the centuries but also the racist challenges they faced in the military and in their communities back home.”

Le’Trice Donaldson and george white jr. conceived of this series to bring to scholarly audiences as well as a wide reading public a robust slate of high-quality books written by junior and veteran scholars who share their passion for exploring the intersectionality of the Black military experience. As Le’Trice Donaldson (Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi; letrice.donaldson@tamucc.edu) said, “The idea for this series began germinating in my mind a few years ago. As a scholar who has dedicated herself to scholarly conference presentations and publications on Black soldiers, I saw firsthand the need for a series that took seriously the vast implications of Black soldiering on the development of modern societies."

The editors recognize that warfare did not always occur on traditional battlefields nor does it exclude people based on race, gender, or age, which is why this series is open to a wide array of scholarship on the ramifications of “soldiering” on the economic, social, or political lives of Black individuals, families, and communities. They seek projects for this series that will highlight the long, and in many cases unending, fight for racial and social justice across time and space in the Black Atlantic.

george white jr. (York College at CUNY; gwhite@york.cuny.edu) further explicated the goals of the series: “The series should be a space in which the fullness of military service before, during, and after conflict intersects with issues of power, identity, and the varied modes of self-determination expressed by Black individuals and communities throughout the Atlantic world.” He added, “We hope that, in addition to adding new voices to the scholarly discourse, the series will be a vehicle for diversifying the academy. As a result, we hope that as intellectuals we can participate in some small way in the ongoing struggle for social justice sweeping our nation and our world.”

A diverse and interdisciplinary group of scholars will serve on the series advisory board:

• Brandon Byrd, History, Vanderbilt University
• Julian Chambliss, English, Michigan State University
• Shennette Garrett-Scott, History and African American Studies, University of Mississippi
• Hilary Green, History and Gender and Race Studies, University of Alabama
• Sheena Harris (U.S. Army veteran), History, Tuskegee University
• Gerald Horne, History and African American Studies, University of Houston
• Earnestine Jenkins, Art History, University of Memphis
• Andre Johnson, Rhetoric and Media Studies, University of Memphis
• Heidi R. Lewis, Feminist and Gender Studies, Colorado College
• Gregory Mixon, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

At UVA Press, the editor for history, Nadine Zimmerli (nizimmerli@virginia.edu), is excited to work with Professors Donaldson and white to make their vision a reality and to promote interdisciplinary scholarship both that explores all facets of the experiences of Black people during periods of military or paramilitary activity in the past and that analyzes contemporary efforts to tackle systemic structures of oppression.

About the Series Editors:

george white jr. is Associate Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History, Philosophy and Anthropology at York College, CUNY, and author of Holding the Line: Race, Racism and U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Africa, 1953–1961.

Le’Trice Donaldson is Assistant Professor of African American and U.S. History at the Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi and author of Duty beyond the Battlefield: African American Soldiers Fight for Racial Uplift, Citizenship, and Manhood, 1870–1920.

About the University of Virginia Press

The University of Virginia Press is the scholarly publishing division of the University of Virginia. The Press supports the academic mission of the University by publishing scholarship in a variety of print and digital formats that broadens knowledge and research capability but also creates public dialogue about place and possibility. Founded in 1963, the Press publishes more than 70 new titles annually. It is a leading publisher in American history and politics, literature, religion, architecture and design, and general interest books about cities, states, and regions throughout the United States and the world.

For more information about UVA Press, please contact Mary Kate Maco.