This is a really excellent, concise articulation of complex issues regarding our relationship to the history of slavery, past and present, and the challenges of learning from an archive. It would be a great book to give high schoolers, to invite them to engage critically with how slavery has been presented to them, and to inspire them both to ask more questions, and to notice the legacies of past violence in today’s world.
Hall is excavating the history of women-led revolts by enslaved people — a phenomenon doubly occluded by powers that, firstly, suppress awareness of any forceful resistant to enslavement, and second, cannot fathom women as leading such movements. Along the way, she also describes what it’s like to be a Black woman historian researching these topics — both in terms of the logistics, and the many obstacles that are thrown in her path, and in terms of the emotional weight and sense of duty. The book’s spare black and white ink drawings are really an eloquent illustration of the story and some of its emotional valences. It’s a really fantastic book.
Kasia Reads 