Johnson Opens Readers Meet the Author Series with Reflections on Freedom

As the first installment of the 2026-2027 Readers Meet the Author series, Ralph and Bessie Mae Lynn Professor of History Ronald A. Johnson will discuss his book, “Entangled Alliances: Racialized Freedom and Atlantic Diplomacy During the American Revolution,” with Professor Adam Bond, Associate Professor of Religion and African American Studies at Baylor. Bond is a historian of Christianity in the United States whose research explores Black religious leadership, the Black church and African American intellectual traditions.

Published by Cornell University Press in the run-up to celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, “Entangled Alliances” reinterprets the American Revolution as an Atlantic story, tracing how people in British North America and the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue, later Haiti, aided one another’s struggles against European rule. Drawing on multilingual primary resources, Johnson recovers the contributions of Black participants to the revolutionary era and examines how ideas about liberty, race and diplomacy crossed national and colonial boundaries.

“Entangled Alliances” received the Texas Institute of Letters Honor Award for Most Significant Scholarly Book and the Phillis Wheatley Book Award, which honors books covering topics related to American slavery and African American genealogy.

“I try to tell a story of the United States to which members of the Baylor community can relate,” Johnson said. “Mine is a story in which people from different backgrounds come together for a common cause. Baylor faculty, students, and alumni do that every day in Waco and around the world. We take the gifts that God has given us, along with the education taught or acquired at Baylor, to improve the lives of others across a variety of fields. And we are informed and affected by those we encounter along the way.”

Johnson earned his Ph.D. in history from Purdue University, a Master of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology, a Master of Arts in American foreign policy from Johns Hopkins University and his undergraduate degree from Texas State University. He joined the faculty of Baylor University after a decade at Texas State University.

Before entering academia, Johnson served as a CIA analyst, a U.S. diplomat in Luxembourg and Gabon, an ordained pastor in the National Baptist Convention, and a chaplain with the U.S. Navy Reserve. He also enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and was a first-generation college student. His research focuses on early America, diplomacy, the African diaspora and Haiti. His first book, “Diplomacy in Black and White,” explored the alliance between John Adams and Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint Louverture. He is at work on two additional books exploring the historical relationship between Haiti and the United States.

Johnson hopes his readers come away from “Entangled Alliances” believing in the “common goodness of humanity; seeing in others—who may not look or pray like us—similar hopes for freedom and justice that we have for ourselves and those we love.” Johnson also hopes readers recognize that “we achieve more (not less), we learn and enjoy more (not less) by joining together—across economic, ideological, national, racial, and religious lines—to improve the lives of all God's children.”

The Readers Meet the Author series session is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception with light refreshments and book signing. The Baylor Bookstore will be on hand to sell copies of “Entangled Alliances.”

Initiated in the fall of 2021 by the Office of the Provost, the Readers Meet the Author series presents select, single-authored, book-length publications by Baylor faculty that inspire shared reflection and collegial conversation among faculty, staff, students, and others. The Readers Meet the Author series is presented by the Office of the Provost and the Office of the President and hosted by the Baylor Libraries.

For more information, visit provost.web.baylor.edu/rma.