Participant Info

First Name
Nik
Last Name
Ribianszky
Country
United Kingdom
State
Affiliation
Queen's University Belfast
Website URL
https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/persons/nik-ribianszky
Keywords
African American history, slavery, free people of color, race relations, women and gender, sexuality, 18th and 19th century history, Atlantic history, comparative slavery
Availability
Media Contact
Additional Contact Information
https://generationsoffreedom.com/
PhD
PhD

Personal Info

Photo
About Me

I am a Senior Lecturer in History at Queen’s University Belfast. My areas of specialization are in 18th and 19th century U.S. and African American history, women and gender history, and race relations with particular focus on enslaved and free people of color. My work has appeared in the Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation, the Journal of Social History, the Journal of Mississippi History, and the African American National Biography. My book Generations of Freedom: Gender, Movement, and Violence in Natchez, 1779-1865 (UGA Press, March 2021) tells the stories of free Black people who collectively inhabited an uncertain world of qualified freedom in a slave society. I also developed a companion website, https://generationsoffreedom.com/ which houses the Natchez Database of Free People of Color (NDFPC) and the Natchez Index of Free Individuals and Families of Color, case studies on individuals and families, an interactive map feature, and other resources.

In 2021, I partnered with Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade out of Matrix: Center for Digital Humanities & Social Sciences at Michigan State University on a grant through the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). My data was included on Enslaved.org’s website along with the accompanying article “Generations of Freedom: The Natchez Database of Free People of Color, 1779-1865” in their Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation (2023). In 2023, I participated in the Enslaved.org/National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute. My current research includes a collaborative digital humanities project entitled “Africans in Ireland: A database on African-descended migrants and visitors to Ireland, 1600-1865” and an investigation of Irish-born immigrants in Natchez, Mississippi and interactions with African Americans, free and enslaved.

Recent Publications

Generations of Freedom: Gender, Movement, and Violence in Natchez, 1779-1865, University of Georgia Press, 2021.

“Generations of Freedom: The Natchez Database of Free People of Color, 1779-1865.” Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation 4, no. 1 (2023): 11-23. https://doi.org/10.25971/9k0y-s795

Digital submission. “Stories: Fanny Leiper,” Enslaved.org, 2023. https://enslaved.org/fullStory/16-23-126862/

Digital submission. “Stories: Amy Johnson,” Enslaved.org, 2023. Enslaved.org

Digital submission. “Stories: Ann Battles Johnson,” Enslaved.org, 2023. Enslaved.org

Digital submission. “Stories: Elizabeth Butcher,” Enslaved.org, 2023. Enslaved.org

Digital submission. “Stories: Nelly Price,” Enslaved.org, 2023. Enslaved.org

“How the Experience of Black People Freed from Slavery Set a Pattern for African Americans Today,” The Conversation, 14 October 2021.

“’Tell Them that My Dayly Thoughts are with Them as Though I was Amidst Them All’: Friendship among the Enslaved and Free People of Color in Natchez, Mississippi, 1779-1870.”  Journal of Social History 50, No. 4 (June 2017): 701-719.

“‘She Appeared to be Mistress of Her Own Actions, Free from the Control of Anyone:’” Property Holding Free Women of Color in Natchez, Mississippi, 1779-1865.” The Journal of Mississippi History LXVII, No. 3 (Fall 2005): 217-245.

Media Coverage
Country Focus
Expertise by Geography
Atlantic, United States
Expertise by Chronology
18th century, 19th century, Early Modern
Expertise by Topic
American Civil War, American Revolution, American Founding Era, Emancipation, Family, Gender, Labor, Public History, Race, Rebellion & Revolution, Sexuality, Sexual Violence, Urban History, Women