Frances Bell

@franrbell.bsky.social

2915 Followers 715 Following

Incoming assistant prof at App State; W&M and Woodson Institute alum. Researching mobility, the Haitian revolutionary diaspora, and freedom-seeking in the early United States. Handy with a knitting needle, happy on a bicycle. She/her.

A screen cap of page 52 of Paula C. Austin's book, Coming of Age in Jim Crow DC. It tells the story of two young Black girls who defied police to swim in the Reflecting Pool, claiming that Lincoln said they could.
A photo of a grey tabby cat sitting in the photographer's lap, next to a laptop on sleep mode.
A black-and-white photo of a couple running down the aisle after getting married in a park.
A short close-up video of several bees buzzing between tall mauve flowers.
A photo of a city skyline, shrouded in smog
A photo of a marble shark statue, fenced behind metal barricades on a sidewalk.
A photo of a microfilm scan of an old letter, dated 1820
A photo of a trellis with the bare stumps of cucumber plants.
A photo of a labyrinth spiral laid out in oyster shells on a patch of grass on a college campus.
A photo of a seedling. Its stalk is bent and leaves have perforations
A photo of a ginger and white kitten, lying on its back on a chair while playing with a ribbon toy
A still from the movie Trainspotting.
A screen cap of a Google Trends search for "how to cook haggis," showing a spike on January 25th.
A screenshot of the first page of "Rose's War"
A photo of a 2D cardboard painted Christmas tree, stuck to a wall above a shelf with presents and cards on it.
A photo of a TV showing a white bulldog running at a dog show. Closed captions read "[cheering]"
A closeup video of a pie crust with filling bubbling out of the holes.
A photo of a watery landscape - still water, grass, low trees in the distance and a big hazy sky. It's dusk and everything is getting dark.
A photo of a ginger and white cat, sleeping on his back on a red bedspread
A photo of an orange and white cat, sprawled on his back on a red bedspread
A screenshot of a news article, with one section outlined. It reads "The white supremacists were supported this spring by the state legislature, which passed a series of laws to hamper civil rights activities."
"Tired Langston Hughes I am so tired of waiting, Aren't you, For the world to become good And beautiful and kind? Let us take a knife And cut the world in two-- And see what worms are eating At the rind."
A photo of a tall tree with bright golden fall leaves, in a clearing in the woods.
A photo of a Halloween costume titled "deluxe privateer"
A photo of four large mind-maps, drawn on butcher paper, stuck up on the wall of an office.
A close-up video of the sea lapping against a breakwater, with seaweed drifting back and forth.
A photo of a white rabbit sitting in a classroom
A photo of a desk with piles of paper laid out
A photo of a small kitten sitting on top of the books on a bookshelf
A screenshot of a fugitive slave advertisement for Azor, who escaped the Cage on Jan 11th 1799.
A photo of stone steps on a street, with the words "never trust a tory" spelled out on the pavement in duct tape.
A photo of a manuscript page, with spots of glitter on some of the ink.
A photograph of an old manuscript document.
A photo of a page of an archival document. It is entirely filled with signatures written in ink.
A photo of a white woman smiling into the camera, wearing green and black doctoral regalia and holding a document.
A photo of a mural of a rearing horse on the end of a brick building. The horse looks like something you might see as part of a statue. It says "liberate" in white block letters underneath.
A photo of Marlene Daut's new book, Awakening the Ashes: An Intellectual History of the Haitian Revolution
A picture of a ginger and white kitten, sprawled on his back, on a sofa with a knitted blanket.