Project Title and Fellowship Work Summary, 2024–25
The Captive’s Tale: Venture Smith and the African Roots of the American Republic
John Wood Sweet spent his fellowship year working on his book project, The Captive’s Tale: Venture Smith and the African Origins of the American Republic (under contract with Henry Holt & Company).
In this project, Sweet uses the dramatic life-story of Venture Smith (Broteer Furro)—who was born in West Africa; survived the Middle Passage as a boy; grew to manhood enslaved in colonial New York; freed himself, his wife, and children in Revolutionary Connecticut; defended his rights in the new nation; and, as an old man, published an extraordinary autobiography—to develop an alternative American origin story that emphasizes the importance of the colonial past and enduring struggles over dignity and belonging.
Project Title and Fellowship Work Summary, 2011–12
The Captive’s Tale: Venture Smith and the Roots of the American Republic
John Wood Sweet spent the year working on his book The Captive’s Tale: Venture Smith and the Roots of the American Republic. He also coedited, with Lisa Lindsay, a volume of essays based on a symposium held at the Center, The Black Atlantic and the Biographical Turn, to be published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2013.