research post 2025-12-19
Winding down into the dark
As I move into holiday, mothering season, this might be the last full on research post of the year. The gifts need wrapping, the Sky Babies need cuddling, and the family is ready to gather.
I am ready to use the solstice season. I am craving time for quiet study and silence.
Grades are in. Campus is quiet. The lab is closed until mid-January. Capricorn season is days away. My plan for the rest of the year? Fold up my toys, sit in the dark, and just BE.
No fancy end of year list from me. Just gratitude.
Thank you all for being here. I hope it has been helpful, somehow, some way.
Reads
Writers’ Program (Ala.), Alabama; a Guide to the Deep South, American Guide Series (R.R. Smith, 1941), https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006245077.
Mya Trujillo, “NAACP Hosts Summit to Combat Negative Impacts of Data Centers,” The Washington Informer, December 15, 2025, https://www.washingtoninformer.com/data-centers-environmental-justice-naacp/.
Imani Perry et al., “Remembering DéLana R.A. Dameron,” Literary Hub, December 17, 2025, https://lithub.com/remembering-delana-r-a-dameron/.
Community Book Center in New Orleans has holiday hours—support your local Black book space doing radical Black things.
Documents
Cecilia Pursues Freedom for Her Niece, Naneta, K4BL https://docs.k4bl.org/keywords/d0263.html
Abstract: Cecilia, an Afro-Indigenous woman–the daughter of María of the Patouca nation (Plains Apache)–sues Don Juan Bautista Tounoir on behalf of her niece, Naneta, for her freedom. Due to the supposed illegality of the enslavement of Indigenous people under Spanish Dominion, Cecilia’s legal argument begs that her niece be declared free on this basis due to her maternal descent or, failing that this be ordered by the court, that Naneta would still be valuated in order for Cecilia to purchase her freedom under cortación proceedings. However, not only were the laws pertaining to Indian slavery frequently broken or outright ignored in Spanish Louisiana, including by members of the government, Naneta’s enslaver, Tounoir, died during the course of the legal proceedings against him.
Citation: ‘Cecilia Pursues Freedom for Her Niece, Naneta, ‘Keywords for Black Louisiana, published on August 9, 2024, https://docs.k4bl.org/keywords/d0263.html.
Projects
Louisiana Slave Conspiracies https://lsc.berkeley.edu/
Digital Archives Collections: African Americans (University of South Alabama) https://libguides.southalabama.edu/c.php?g=171635&p=1131720
Omar Ibn Said Collection at the Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/collections/omar-ibn-said-collection/about-this-collection/
William A. Gladstone Afro-American Military Collection https://www.loc.gov/collections/gladstone-african-american-military-collection/about-this-collection/
African American Perspectives: Materials Selected from the Rare Book Collection https://www.loc.gov/collections/african-american-perspectives-rare-books/
Recovered Histories: Reawakening the narratives of enslavement, resistance and the fight for freedom https://www.recoveredhistories.org/
Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories https://www.loc.gov/collections/voices-remembering-slavery/
WPA Alabama Writers Project https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/wpa
Black Abolitionist Archive https://libraries.udmercy.edu/archives/special-collections/index.php?collectionCode=bulletins_bul
Affirmations and Beatitudes
I hope you have a restful and rejuvenating break!
wishing rest, rejuvenation and light to you and your familia.