The Baptism of Early Virginia: How Christianity Created Race

Acknowledgments

ix acknowledgments A friend recently reminded me that all good scholarly work is the result of collaboration. In remembering how within a decade this book went from humble seminar paper to dissertation to actual book manuscript, I am astounded at all the people who helped and influenced me. In the History Department at Harvard, David Armitage, Vince Brown, Joyce Chaplin, Mark Kishlansky, Laurel Ulrich, and the members of Laurel’s Early American History Seminar read and commented on this book in its formative stages. Laurel was also my adviser; she encouraged this project from its inception (even when I described my method as “nailing jelly to a wall”). I could not have asked for a kinder or more astute critic. My classmate Louis Hyman coined the phrase “hereditary heathenism” and graciously allowed me to use it. A Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Summer Research Fellowship, a Mark DeWolfe Howe Fellowship in the Study of American Law, and several summer and term-time grants from the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard University made the many months I spent at the Library of Virginia possible. While I did research in Richmond, Virginia, the Fall Line Early America Seminar allowed me to join the group and present some of my earliest thoughts. Woody Holton, Doug Winiarski, Mark Valeri, Phil Schwartz, and Al Zambone all provided valuable insights. I especially thank Brent Tarter of the Library of Virginia for introducing me to the FLEAS and for assisting me above and beyond the call of duty at the library. The fine folks of the Dictionary of Virginia Biography project, especially Brent Tarter, John Kneebone, John Deal, and Sara Bearss, helped me navigate county court records on microfilm and invited me to share many entertaining lunches with them. At the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, a Gilder Lehrman Research Fellowship funded two intense months of research. Jim Horn, Gail Greve, Sam Fore, George Yetter, Del Moore, Juleigh Clarke, and Inge Flester not only were very helpful but also provided me with a calm place to work for x Acknowledgments two months. At Colonial Williamsburg’s Historical Research Division, Cary Carson and Kevin Kelley listened to me patiently and offered helpful suggestions as I floundered through the York County Court Records. Linda Rowe allowed me access to Colonial Williamsburg’s painstakingly prepared York County Records transcripts and biographical files and answered all my questions. A Virginia Historical Society Mellon Fellowship allowed me to spend two weeks there combing through the papers of great planters and through parish record books. Nelson Lankford, Frances Pollard, and Greg Stoner made my stay there a pleasant one. The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation’s Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship for Studies in Religious and Ethical Values allowed me to write for the entire academic year of 2005–6. At Rice University, I have found a most congenial home in the Department of History. For seven years, I have received research support in the form of a Jon and Paula Mosle Grant, which has enabled travel to archives and conferences. A fellowship from Rice’s Humanities Research Center allowed for more writing time over the course of academic year 2008–9. In the history department, the junior faculty writing group has been a supportive place to work out writing problems; I especially thank Lisa Balabanlilar, Kate de Luna, Karl Gunther, Madlene Hamilton, Moramay Lopez-Alonso, Caleb McDaniel, Cyrus Mody, Aysha Pollnitz, and Emily Straus for their insights. My colleagues John Boles and Randal Hall invited me to present portions of chapter 6 at the Houston Area Southern Historians workshop. And Anna Shparberg and Randy Tibbets of the Fondren Library patiently acquired books and microfilm for me. A fleet of Rice graduate and undergraduate students participated in this project as research assistants. I thank Chris Davis, Michael Esquivel, Kelin Herrington, Katie Knowles, Allison Madar, and Ben Wright. Andrew Baker and Sarah Paulus patiently fact-checked the manuscript. Any errors that remain are mine alone. From 2007 to 2009, I was privileged to be a member of the Young Scholars in American Religion Program at Indiana University/Purdue University Indianapolis, funded by the Lilly Endowment. My colleagues in this seminar helped this project grow and change. I thank Ed Blum, Darren Dochuk, Kate Engel, Spencer Fluhman, Charles Irons, Kathryn Lofton, Randall Stephens, Matt Sutton, Tisa Wenger, and our wonderful moderators, Paul Harvey and Amanda Porterfield, for this great experience...