Presenter Profile

Hannah J. Francis is an assistant professor in the Africana Studies Department at the University of Rhode Island. She holds a B.A. from Jackson State University, a Master’s degree from the University of New Orleans, and a PhD from Rice University. Her research focuses upon the migration and movement of people, ideas, and goods in the Atlantic World. In 2022, she published a book chapter entitled “Maritime Miscommunication: La Concorde’s Final Voyage,” which analyzed responses to the pirate Blackbeard’s capture of a French slave-trading vessel. Dr. Francis’s current book project—tentatively entitled Passports to the Atlantic: Free Travelers of Color from Nineteenth Century New Orleans, 1818-1831—will examine a collection of passports issued to free people of color from New Orleans. For the 2025-2026 year, she has been awarded a Kate B. and Hall J. Peterson Fellowship from the American Antiquarian Society to research ship captains from nineteenth century New Orleans.