Following the adoption of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, ideas around Black citizenship in the early Republic were heavily debated and challenged. During the early national and antebellum periods (1787-1861), Black writers articulated an expansive, practice-based theory of citizenship that demonstrated their participation in the American experiment.

Watch this book talk with Derrick R. Spires, Associate Professor of Literatures in English at Cornell University, and author of The Practice of Citizenship: Black Politics and Print Culture in the Early United States. Professor Spires discusses Black print culture and changing ideas concerning citizenship.