Beau D.J. Gaitors is an assistant professor of history in the Department of History, Politics, & Social Justice at Winston-Salem State University. His research focuses on the African diaspora with a particular emphasis on the social, political, and economic contributions of African descendants during the transition to independence in Mexico. His research also investigates the intersections of race, environment, and public health in the Americas through analyzing the position of African descendants in notions of health and public policy throughout the nineteenth century. He received a Fulbright fellowship (COMEXUS) to conduct archival research for his current book project on African descendants in nineteenth-century Mexico and served as a postdoctoral fellow through the Consortium for Faculty Diversity. His current manuscript project engages the position of African descendants in the port city of Veracruz through the lens of mobility, citizenship, and belonging in the nascent nation.