Prophet Against Slavery: Benjamin Lay

By Karol Kovalovich Weaver    

Prophet Against Slavery: Benjamin Lay: A Graphic Novel, by David Lester and accompanied with essays by Marcus Rediker and Paul Buhle, tells the story of eighteenth-century radical abolitionist Benjamin Lay. Born in England, Lay, a member of the Society of Friends (Quakers), pursued various trades, working as a shepherd, a glover, a sailor, a merchant, and a writer. He was a little person with dwarfism and kyphosis (latter is “exaggerated, forward rounding of the upper back;”). His travels as a sailor, the time he spent in Barbados, and his residence in the colony of Pennsylvania exposed him to the horrors of slavery. Moved by the plight of the enslaved, Lay spoke out and wrote against the practice; moreover, he participated in radical acts designed to express his antislavery beliefs and to call out slaveholders, many of whom were fellow Quakers. In addition to abolitionism, Lay communicated an abiding devotion to non-human animals. His work as a shepherd and his time as a glover, which required him to process animal skins, influenced his respect for animals. Author and illustrator David Lester skillfully conveys Lay’s abolitionism with stark images of violence and portrays Lay’s deep care for animals by means of text and imagery. Lester’s expert work does what essay contributor and Lay biographer Marcus Rediker said it was designed to do: “bring him [Lay] back for a new generation of readers, who might just see in Benjamin’s story creative possibilities for a better future, in which we can all live together on ‘the innocent fruits of the earth’ in genuine, abiding peace and equality” (114).

Though in black, white and grey wash, Lester creates violent images with thick lines to highlight the cruelty of slavery and Lay’s antislavery work. One of the first series of images of violence that Lester includes is a group of illustrations of one of Lay’s radical abolitionist acts. Lay appeared at a Quaker meeting dressed in military regalia, carrying a sword, and holding a book. He thrust the sword into the book, which contained only a bladder filled with pokeberry juice; the “blood” splattered on the assembled. His accusatory message was clear: the blood of the enslaved was on the hands of the guilty slaveholders as well as on those who turned a blind eye to the practice. Lester crowds two pages with drawings of bondsmen bent, whipped, and in chains and, a few pages after, the viewer witnesses Lay raise his sword and impale the book. Finally, the episode ends with Lay thrown forcibly from the meeting house. Lester draws thick lines, replete with ink blotches, and full of energy. Other images of violence are similarly crowded with thick line drawings.

Lester’s depictions of Lay’s dedication to non-human animals skillfully combine imagery and text. Lay embodied his love for animals by wearing hand-made tow linen clothes and by raising and eating only fruits and vegetables. The images of sheep that Lester includes are Lay’s memories of conversations he had with his beloved wife, Sarah, as well as Lay’s thoughtful reflections about his life and beliefs. In one frame, Lester shows a young Lay among the sheep. He tells Sarah, “Those gentle creatures taught me much about the world” (28). Near the end of the graphic novel, Lester includes a frame in which Lay tenderly touches a sheep’s snout and in which he says, “I say, the merciful man is merciful to the beast” (102). Lay connected the ways that humans treated their fellow humans to how they behaved toward animals.

In addition to Lester’s excellent work, Prophet against Slavery includes an essay by Rediker about Lay and his historical and modern-day relevance and an essay by Paul Buhle analyzing Lester and his art. The book would be a welcome addition to high school and college history courses and public libraries.

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Karol Kovalovich Weaver is a professor of history at Susquehanna University. She teaches US history and the history of medicine. Her research focuses on the history of medicine. She is the author of two books, Medical Revolutionaries: The Enslaved Healers of Eighteenth-Century Saint Domingue (University of Illinois Press) and Medical Caregiving and Identity in Pennsylvania’s Anthracite Region, 1880-2000 (Penn State Press).