Antoinette Harrell

Antoinette Harrell is a historian interested in race relations in the southern region of the United States whose work is currently being preserved at the Amistad Research Center. The Amistad Research Center acquired the Antoinette Harrell papers in 2002, and received additional donations in 2013 about her work as a prolific activist, historian, and genealogist. As a historian, Harrell uncovered cases of illegal peonage (debt slavery) in sixteen states and revealed painful stories of African...See more

Antoinette Harrell is a historian interested in race relations in the southern region of the United States whose work is currently being preserved at the Amistad Research Center. The Amistad Research Center acquired the Antoinette Harrell papers in 2002, and received additional donations in 2013 about her work as a prolific activist, historian, and genealogist. As a historian, Harrell uncovered cases of illegal peonage (debt slavery) in sixteen states and revealed painful stories of African Americans from the southern states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Florida. Some African Americans from this region were still living enslaved well into the 1960s, including some on Mississippi plantations. Harrell compiled more than 20 years of extensive research on peonage in the southern region of the United States; her work has been highlighted in VICE and People magazines, as well as in many national and international publications and news and radio programs. She is an author, motivational speaker, and community organizer. See less