Ronald Angelo Johnson
Associate Professor & The Ralph and Bessie Mae Lynn Chair of History
On research leave in Fall 2023.
Specialties
Early U.S. diplomacy, African Americans, and Haiti
Education
- Purdue University, Ph.D.
- Boston University School of Theology, M.Div.
- Johns Hopkins University (SAIS), M.A.
- Texas State University, B.A.
Academic/Research Interests
My research embraces a transnational approach to African American history in the early United States, with specializations in diplomacy, race, and religion.
I am currently writing a book on racialized U.S. relations with Haiti through the American and Haitian Revolutions. My next book will examine the impact of Haitian immigration on nineteenth-century U.S. religion and culture. I have published articles, essays, and reviews in Early American Studies, Diplomatic History, the Journal of African American History, the Journal of Caribbean History, Baptist History & Heritage, and the American Historical Review.
Publications
Books
- Diplomacy in Black and White: John Adams, Toussaint Louverture, and Their Atlantic World Alliance (UGA Press, 2014)
- In Search of Liberty: African American Internationalism During the Nineteenth Century, edited with Ousmane Power-Greene (UGA Press), forthcoming.
Selected Articles
- “Africans and Immigrants: Haitian Contributions to the African Protestant Movement in Early America,” Revue Française d’Études Américaines 164 (2020): 38-57.
- “‘A Very Curious Game’: The Racialized Public Diplomacy of Toussaint Louverture in the United States,” Journal of Caribbean History 53, no. 1. (2019): 82-116.
- “Haiti's Connection to Early America: Beyond the Revolution,” History Compass 16, no. 3 (2018), DOI 10.1111/hic3.12442.
Selected Book Chapters
- “Natural Rights: Haitian-American Diplomacy in the Age of Atlantic Revolutions,” in A Companion to U.S. Foreign Policy, Colonial Era to the Present, ed. Christopher Dietrich (Wiley-Blackwell, 2020), I, 93-112.
- “Enslaved by History: Slavery’s Enduring Influence on the Memory of Pierre Toussaint,” in Traces and Memories of Slavery in the Atlantic World, ed. Lawrence Aje and Nicolas Gachon (Routledge, 2019), 170-187.