Slavery and the Making of the Early American Book

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September 9, 2025

Doors Open and Reception | 6:00 p.m.

Program | 6:30 p.m.

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Join us in the Kislak Center at the University of Miami for an engaging presentation by John J. Garcia, director of Scholarly Programs and Partnerships at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts. Garcia will present from his monograph-in-progress, “Without Order: Booksellers and the Failures of the Early American Book Trades, 1679-1825.”

As we approach the 200th anniversary of Freedom’s Journal (1827), the first African American periodical, Garcia will explore Black labor in the world of books across colonial North America, the British Caribbean, and the early United States. Focusing on three key bibliographical sites—the library, the printing office, and the paper mill—the presentation reimagines expressions of community, expertise, and resistance in these spaces. Free and enslaved communities played a central role in shaping early American print culture, influencing libraries, print shops, and paper mills in often surprising and overlooked ways.

Following the presentation, there will be a Q&A with the audience.