The four articles in this issue invite us to take a second—and then a third—look at the making and unmaking of familiar historical narratives. The issue opens with Colm Lavery’s study of the racial maps produced by Yale geographer Ellsworth Huntington. Bringing together the methodologies of geography and history, Lavery describes Huntington’s maps as visual performances of eugenic thought that found long-lasting homes in textbooks and classrooms across the nation. John Winters introduces Harriet Maxwell Converse and the Indian Colony of New York City she founded. Though largely forgotten today, stories about Converse and the Colony filled newspapers at the end of the nineteenth century. Reading these accounts reveals the “hidden history” of an Indigenous urban community that was well established earlier than historians have sometimes assumed. Lila Teeters follows Pueblo opposition to the 1920 Carter Bill, a proposal to grant citizenship to all Native Americans born in the territorial United States. Pueblo activists instead put forward a more pluralistic understanding of citizenship that reshaped twentieth-century citizenship policies. To their dismay, though, citizenship remained a status imposed by the law rather than the outcome of consensual agreement and negotiation. Lewis Defrates follows African American transatlantic performers on their tours of Britain. Outside the United States, Ida B. Wells and the Jubilee Singers were able to perform an American identity that sharply opposed the racial nationalism of popular shows such as Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. Still, that oppositional identity remained confined within the idea of the American nation-state. We conclude the issue, as always, with a wide-ranging collection of book reviews.
In the last issue, SHGAPE president Nancy Unger paid tribute to just how much Boyd Cothran accomplished as editor of this Journal. But she only highlighted what is visible in the published pages of JGAPE. Boyd’s editorship was so much more than the issues he oversaw. He read pieces for their potential as well as their current strength, and he helped authors write their very best work. The range of articles Boyd guided through the review process and to publication is impressive. The last two years have been difficult for everyone, to say the very least, and academic journal publishing has faced many unwelcome challenges. JGAPE has persevered, thanks to Boyd’s steady hand and unfailing sense of humor. Working with him has been a privilege—and a whole lot of fun. I learn from Boyd every day, not just about the nuts and bolts of getting an issue out but also about the fundamental importance of our collective effort to research, write, and share ideas.
