An African American and Latinx History of the United States

November 13, 2017
In the latest entry of the Revisioning American History series, Ortiz (Emancipa-
tion Betrayed), associate professor of history at the University of Florida, celebrates the lives and achievements of men and women of African and Latin-American heritage within the broader narrative of U.S. history. Ortiz emphasizes these groups’ contributions to struggles against slavery, imperialism, and classism throughout the Americas, chronologically organizing instances in which they played a central role in liberation movements, both within the U.S. and across the Western Hemisphere. Beginning with the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804), which gave rise to an “emancipatory internationalism” and inspired uprisings against slavery and colonialism throughout the Americas, Ortiz goes on to analyze the confrontation between Mexican advocates of independence and American politicians—such as presidents Madison, Monroe, and John Quincy Adams—who feared the hemisphere-wide spread of liberation ideology. Later chapters examine the international ramifications of the Civil War, African-American involvement in the abolition of slavery in Cuba, and the ways that racism undermined U.S. working-class solidarity. While each chapter is insightful, lucidly written, and extensively researched, the book reads more like a series of articles than a cohesive monograph. Ortiz’s work has much to offer, but does not fulfill the promise of its title.