This epilogue briefly comments on the legacy of the men and women who form the focus of the study. Drawing upon the arguments made in the preceding chapters, it argues that the diverse thought of black thinkers and activists from the French Empire and United States has indelibly shaped our notions of race, citizenship and republicanism in America, France and the Western world. It reiterates the centrality of the belief that the guarantee of rights in the face of difference would emanate from the sovereign power of the republican nation-state rather than from any international institutions. This was the case even where the struggle against racism and imperialism was understood in global terms.