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Leon Jackson

@drleonj.bsky.social

720 followers 390 following 1.8K posts

Black dogs, orange cats, and manuscripts. Professor @ USC. I write about African American life in early national and antebellum Boston. My posts are my own opinions and do not reflect those of my employer.

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Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 18m

lmao

Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 18m

We don’t talk enough about how physically exhausting archival work can be. I stood for 8 hours in an uncomfortable stress position today and took about 2000 pictures of these huge ledgers. My brain is fizzing, but my dogs are barking and my back hurts like hell. I wouldn’t swap this for anything! 🗃️

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Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 25m

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Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 34m

I loved Why We Sleep! I think I’d find it hard to listen to any audiobook while walking Tulip, because I tend to chatter to her while we’re walking, pointing out interesting squirrels, or telling her to quit tugging (after the squirrels).

Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 1h

What’s the best academic audiobook you’ve heard (either by content or delivery)?

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Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 4h

In 1837, Emma Adams accused Emma Jackson of witchcraft in Boston’s Police Court. The judge thought Adams “deranged,” and threw out the case, but this is actually a remarkable testament to the endurance and mobility of conjure culture among African Americans in the antebellum North 🗃️

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Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 5h

He really does!

Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 6h

This afternoon, I’m at the archive that has an archive dog. (Meet Chester!) Needless to say, it’s the best possible place to do research! 🗃️

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Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 8h

😂

Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 9h

Can you be a little more specific about what you’re looking for? Rural? Urban? North? South? White? African American? Case study/biography or monograph on the everyday specifically? [Alice Earle Morse’s book was published in 1898, so more of a Victorian primary source than anything else]

Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 9h

Leon Jackson is the author of The Business of Umbrellas, and It’s DeCerteau to Rain Tomorrow. He has been confused in more than fifty different archives. Sometimes, his head hovers over Boston’s Back Bay.

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Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 9h

In the Future, There Will Be No Present Leon Selfie!

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Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 9h

It’s an extremely wet day here in Somerville, and I’m grateful to Past Leon for always packing several garbage bags for research trips. I may be drenched by the time I get to the archive, but my laptop and camera will be dry!

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Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 10h

You can draw a fairly straight line from Clayton “Bloody” Chiclitz to El*n M*sk. Fuck the Yoyodynes of the world.

Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 22h

*propter [stupid ass autocorrect]

Leon Jackson @drleonj.bsky.social · 23h

September 1837: “Abolition is all the go, the women seem to think of nothing else, and they speak of nothing else”

January 1838: “Eve[ening] Went to Anti-Slavery meeting”

Post hoc, ergo Procter hoc! 🗃️