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The Black Schooner: Rebellion on the Amistad

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by Victoria James The Black Schooner: Rebellion on the Amistad, by David Lester and Marcus Rediker with an Afterword by Paul Buhle, is a striking graphic retelling of a significant moment of collective resistance in the history of the transatlantic slave trade. Adapted from Rediker’s historical study The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom, this graphic novel brings the 1839 uprising into vivid focus, restoring the fifty‑three enslaved African people onboard La Amistad to the center of their own narrative. By situating the graphic novel within a “history-from-below” (p. 117, Afterword) framework, the authors successfully challenge the… Read More

Toussaint Louverture

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by Kevin Wolf In 1936 a play opened in London and according to the back cover “for the first time, black actors appeared on the British stage in a work by a black playwright.” This was C.L.R. (Cyril Lionel Robert) James (“Trinidadian historian, journalist, and revolutionary) work portraying the revolt of enslaved people. Paul Robeson played Toussaint Louverture. Toussaint had helped lead the revolt against slavery in San Domingo (taking back its pre-colonial name of Haiti). James is quoted on the inside cover “They, the Negro slaves, are the most important characters in the play. Toussaint did not make the… Read More