‘We Are Not What We Seem’: The Wealth of American Capitalism and the ‘Exceptionalism’ of Haitian Poverty

Please join us for a talk with Westenley Alcenat, Ph.D., professor in Fordham University’s Department of History, on Tuesday, October 8 at 5 p.m. In his talk, titled “We Are Not What We Seem: The Wealth of American Capitalism and the ‘Exceptionalism’ of Haitian Poverty,” he will discuss the unfinished struggle for black citizenship in the context of the transnational relationship between the U.S and Haiti as sister republics borne of the Age of Revolutions (1776–1848). Alcenat asks what historical lessons can be taken to explain the rise, fall, and failures of black citizenship in an Atlantic economy that retains the vestiges of black slavery next to white freedom. In addition, he inquires, what changed, and what remained the same, if we consider that over time from 1619 to 2019, black people in the Western Hemisphere live with freedom without economic citizenship, and “reconciliation” without reparations for slavery? This event is sponsored by the O’Connell Initiative on the Global History of Capitalism.