Taylor Prescott

Taylor Prescott's dissertation—tentatively titled Sovereigns and Exiles, Recaptives and Revolutionaries: A History of Black Interethnic Exchange in Sierra Leone, 1775–1848—examines the complex interplay between Temne sovereigns, Afro-American refugees, Jamaican Maroon exiles, and recaptive Africans, largely within the British colony of Freetown. Privileging the perspectives of these communities better reflects the messy, uneven, and often contradictory nature of abolition in Sierra Leone and the wider Black Atlantic.

Deeply attuned to local actors, events, and processes in West Africa, the project situates each community within its prior context while emphasizing the role of migration in shaping political sentiment toward other Black communities. By highlighting the connections between Freetown and various sites across the Atlantic World, Taylor aims to produce a global history of Sierra Leone that foregrounds Black subjectivities and strategies for self-advancement. While many historians have acknowledged Sierra Leone's heterogeneity, few have grappled with the implications of African and Afro-descendant communities exchanging goods, ideas, insults, sympathies, and strategies during the Age of Revolution. In contrast, Taylor’s research argues that distinct yet overlapping notions of freedom, rights, and responsibilities among these communities drove historical change within Sierra Leone and beyond.