Bailey Martin | 2025 Summer Intensive Language Grant
Bailey Martin | Ph.D. Student in U.S. History
“Why Dutch?” was the first question asked by my advisor, my classmates, and even the Dutch instructor at Leiden when I shared that I wanted to learn the language for my research on slave rebellion and mobility in the Greater Caribbean. The question itself reveals a central aspect of my research: the Dutch Atlantic is essentially left out of historical analyses of slavery, amelioration, the Age of Revolution, and the final century of the Atlantic slave trade. As historian Marjoleine Kars noted in her Blood on the River: A Chronicle of Mutiny and Freedom on the Wild Coast about the 1763 slave Rebellion in the Dutch colony of Berbice, the problem of this historical silence is largely attributable to the scarcity of historians who are proficient enough in Dutch to access Dutch-language archives and to the perception of the Dutch Caribbean as a relatively less significant historical site in comparison to its British, French, and Spanish counterparts.
During the 2025 Summer Quarter, I completed an intensive Dutch language program at Leiden University with the support of the Stanford History Department. In addition to learning the language, I had the opportunity to explore the institutions where I may conduct my archival work. I found out that the National Archives in Hague is currently undergoing major digitization and reorganization efforts to make thousands of sources related to the Dutch Empire and Dutch slavery more accessible to researchers. I also visited partner institutions, such as the Rijksmuseum and the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and interacted with colleagues and potential mentors at the Leiden’s Talencentrum and Institute for History. The opportunity to not only learn the language but to study surrounded by institutions of significance to my research added indispensable value to my summer and reinforced my research interest in the Dutch Atlantic as a geographical site to explore in my doctoral program in History.
Bailey Martin is a 2nd year Ph.D. student in the U.S. History field with a focus on slavery and slave rebellion during the 18th and 19th centuries. In Summer 2025, Bailey traveled to the Netherlands with the support of Stanford History Department’s Intensive Language Training Program for 1st year History doctoral students. Her training is made available by the Dean Benjamin Douglas Fund established in 1955 to enhance the study of American History in the Stanford Department of History. To support graduate student work in History at Stanford, please see our giving opportunities.
