Herman Bennett talks about his book, African Kings and Black Slaves Sovereignty and Dispossession in the Early Modern Atlantic. It is an examination of how early modern African-European encounters offer a rethinking of these exchanges as being solely about the slave trade and racial difference. By asking how Europeans and Africans thought about sovereignty, polities, and subject status, Bennett offers a new take on the slaves' experiences in the Americas.

Herman Bennett is the Executive Officer and Distinguished Professor, Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies; Distinguished Professor, History, Africana Studies, American Studies, Global Early Modern Studies; Director, Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean (IRADAC) at CUNY.