Hello!

I’d like to introduce my new Substack newsletter dedicated to the transatlantic world of the great American physician and intellectual James McCune Smith.

I’m delighted to announce – to all who may not know already – that I’m writing a biography of him, under contract with the University of Georgia Press. (It will be his first published scholarly biography, to my knowledge, building on my PhD thesis, the first completed book-length monograph on his life.) This newsletter will share intriguing discoveries and facts about McCune Smith’s life and his world that I come across – and have already come across – as I conduct research for the book and write it.

This newsletter has a dual purpose. First, and most importantly, I hope to generate more interest in McCune Smith. Due to several accidents of history, McCune Smith has come to be at least as forgotten in our time as he was famous in his own. In tandem with many other wonderful scholars and authors who have been rediscovering him and his remarkable legacy over the last few decades, I hope to help restore him to widespread historical memory, as his legacy deserves.

Secondly, I also hope to generate some financial support for my work on McCune Smith and his world, which is currently unfunded. This newsletter will consist of a mix of freely accessible posts and some available only to paid subscribers. For those who can and do support my work by subscribing to this newsletter ($5 per month, $50 per year), thank you so very much! For those who can’t support this work financially but do so by subscribing to the free version (and hopefully by recommending this newsletter to others), I thank you as well.

Sincerely,

Amy

P.S. While I’ll occasionally post to Ordinary Philosophy, my James McCune Smith Substack letter will be my primary outlet for my writing as I work on his biography – with the exception of articles and other works published in others’ media outlets (for example, I have an article pending publication in a New York history journal). So, hope to see you there!