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About Derek Litvak

Derek Litvak is a PhD candidate at the University of Maryland—College Park. His dissertation, "The Specter of Black Citizens: Race, Slavery, and Citizenship in the Early United States," examines how citizenship was used to both bolster the institution of slavery and exclude Black Americans from the body politic.

NBN Episodes hosted by Derek:

General History December 16, 2021

Race, Removal, and the Right to Remain

Migration and the Making of the United States

Samantha Seeley

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Samantha Seeley is the author of Race, Removal, and the Right to Remain: Migration and the Making of the United States, published by the University of North Carolina Press in …
General History December 15, 2021

Bonds of Empire

The English Origins of Slave Law in South Carolina and British Plantation America, 1660–1783

Lee B. Wilson

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Lee B. Wilson is the author of Bonds of Empire: The English Origins of Slave Law in South Carolina and British Plantation America, 1660-1783, published by Cambridge University Press in …
General History September 21, 2021

Hidden Laws

How State Constitutions Stabilize American Politics

Robinson Woodward-Burns

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Robinson Woodward-Burns is the author of Hidden Laws: How the State Constitutions Stabilize American Politics, published by Yale University Press in 2021. Hidden Laws explores the relationship between both state …
General History September 14, 2021

Race Unequals

Overseer Contracts, White Masculinities, and the Formation of Managerial Identity in the Plantation Economy

Teri A. McMurtry-Chubb

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Teri A. McMurtry-Chubb is the author of Race Unequals: Overseer Contracts, White Masculinities, and the Formation of Managerial Identity in the Plantation Economy, published by Lexington Books in 2021. Race …
General History June 3, 2021

Injury Impoverished

Workplace Accidents, Capitalism, and Law in the Progressive Era

Nate Holdren

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Nate Holdren is the author of Injury Impoverished: Workplace Accidents, Capitalism, and Law in the Progressive Era, published by Cambridge University Press in 2020. Injury Impoverished looks at the history …
General History May 20, 2021

The Ledger and the Chain

How Domestic Slave Traders Shaped America

Joshua D. Rothman

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Joshua Rothman’s The Ledger and the Chain: How Domestic Slave Traders Shaped America was published by Basic Books in 2021, and tells a sprawling history of slave traders in America …
General History May 19, 2021

Unfree Markets

The Slaves' Economy and the Rise of Capitalism in South Carolina

Justene Hill Edwards

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Justene Hill Edwards is the author of Unfree Markets: The Slaves’ Economy and the Rise of Capitalism in South Carolina (Columbia University Press, 2021). Unfree Markets focuses in on an …
General History December 14, 2020

The World Colonization Made

The Racial Geography of Early American Empire

Brandon Mills

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Brandon Mills is the author of The World Colonization Made: The Racial Geography of Early American Empire, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2020. The World Colonization Made …
General History October 16, 2020

An Intimate Economy

Enslaved Women, Work, and America’s Domestic Slave Trade

Alexandra J. Finley

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Alexandra J. Finley is the author of An Intimate Economy: Enslaved Women, Work, and America’s Domestic Slave Trade, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2020. An Intimate …
General History September 1, 2020

Free Justice

A History of the Public Defender in Twentieth-Century America

Sara Mayeux

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Sara Mayeux is the author of Free Justice: A History of the Public Defender in Twentieth-Century America, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2020. Free Justice explores …
General History August 19, 2020

Contagions of Empire

Scientific Racism, Sexuality, and Black Military Workers Abroad, 1898-1948

Khary Oronde Polk

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Khary Oronde Polk is the author of Contagions of Empire: Scientific Racism, Sexuality, and Black Military Workers Abroad, 1898-1948, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2020. Contagions …
Native American Studies August 18, 2020

Beneath the Backbone of the World

Blackfoot People and the North American Borderlands, 1720-1877

Ryan Hall

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Ryan Hall is the author of Beneath the Backbone of the World: Blackfoot People and the North American Borderlands, 1720-1877, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2020 …
General History August 17, 2020

Black Market

The Slave's Value in National Culture after 1865

Aaron Carico

Hosted by Derek Litvak
On the eve of the Civil War, the estimated value of the U.S. enslaved population exceeded $3 billion--triple that of investments nationwide in factories, railroads, and banks combined, and worth …
General History July 27, 2020

Migrant Citizenship

Race, Rights, and Reform in the U.S. Farm Labor Camp Program

Verónica Martínez-Matsuda

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Verónica Martínez-Matsuda about her book Migrant Citizenship: Race, Rights, and Reform in the U.S. Farm Labor Camp Program (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020). Migrant Citizenship exams the Farm Security Administration’s …
General History July 24, 2020

White Balance

How Hollywood Shaped Colorblind Ideology and Undermined Civil Rights

Justin Gomer

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Justin Gomer is the author of White Balance: How Hollywood Shaped Colorblind Ideology and Undermined Civil Rights, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2020. White Balance explores …
General History June 15, 2020

How the Suburbs Were Segregated

Developers and the Business of Exclusionary Housing, 1890-1960

Paige Glotzer

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Paige Glotzer is the author of How the Suburbs Were Segregated: Developers and the Business of Exclusionary Housing, 1890-1960, published by Columbia University Press in 2020. How the Suburbs Were …
General History April 2, 2020

William’s Gang

A Notorious Slave Trader and his Cargo of Black Convicts

Jeff Forret

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Jeff Forret is the author of William’s Gang: A Notorious Slave Trader and his Cargo of Black Convicts, published by Cambridge University Press in 2020. William’s Gang explores the career …
General History March 16, 2020

Thomas Jefferson’s Education

Alan Taylor

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Alan Taylor is the author of Thomas Jefferson’s Education published by W. W. Norton & Company in 2019. Thomas Jefferson’s Education tells the story of how Jefferson’s vision for educating …
General History March 12, 2020

Standard-Bearers of Equality

America’s First Abolition Movement

Paul J. Polgar

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Paul J. Polgar is the author of Standard-Bearers of Equality: America’s First Abolition Movement, published by University of North Carolina Press in 2019. Standard-Bearers of Equality tells the story of …
General History February 5, 2020

Engines of Redemption

Railroads and the Reconstruction of Capitalism in the New South

R. Scott Huffard, Jr.

Hosted by Derek Litvak
R. Scott Huffard Jr. is the author of Engines of Redemption: Railroads and the Reconstruction of Capitalism in the New South, published by the University of North Carolina Press in …
General History January 30, 2020

Long Past Slavery

Representing Race in the Federal Writers’ Project

Catherine A. Stewart

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Catherine A. Stewart is the author of Long Past Slavery: Representing Race in the Federal Writers’ Project, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2016. Long Past Slavery …
General History January 27, 2020

Reading These United States

Federal Literacy in the Early Republic, 1776-1830

Keri Holt

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Keri Holt is the author of Reading These United States: Federal Literacy in the Early Republic, 1776-1830, published by the University of Georgia Press in 2019. Reading These United States …
General History December 24, 2019

The Black Republic

African Americans and the Fate of Haiti

Brandon R. Byrd

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Brandon R. Byrd is the author of The Black Republic: African Americans and the Fate of Haiti, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2019. The Black Republic examines …
General History November 11, 2019

The INS on the Line

Making Immigration Law on the US-Mexico Border, 1917-1954

S. Deborah Kang

Hosted by Derek Litvak
Today I talked to S. Deborah Kang about her book The INS on the Line: Making Immigration Law on the US-Mexico Border, 1917-1954, published by Oxford University Press in 2017 …