Christina Proenza-Coles holds a dual doctorate in sociology and history from the New School for Social Research. Her ancestors include Daughters of the American Revolution, Portuguese conversos, Cuban pirates, a Confederate sergeant, and a governor of Alabama. In American Founders (NewSouth Books) Proenza-Coles reveals men and women of African descent as key protagonists in the story of American democracy. Challenging conventional notions about the roles of African Americans in American history, American Founders notes how African-descended people contributed to every facet of it, be it as explorers, settlers, soldiers, and sailors, or as lawyers, artists, mathematicians, scientists, pirates, poets and more. American Founders underscores that black and white Americans share the same history, and in many cases, the same ancestry. Joel Dinerstein, Clark Chair of American Civilization, Tulane University, and author praised American Founders, suggesting that “It can stand as a model of a new kind of hemispheric history, as defined by the slave trade and European contact, a counternarrative to help guide historical change.”
