A review by cmucce01
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall

5.0

Gorgeous graphic novel about a Black queer female historian and her search for the truth about women’s roles in slave revolts. This book felt on par with Maus in its importance, poignancy, and blending of the personal with the historical. Dr. Hall’s research takes her to New York and London, two cities rarely associated with American slavery, and she shows how much information can be gleaned from the banal record keeping required to turn human beings into commodities. The most surprising fact I learned was that slave revolts on ships increased with the number of women on board — likely because women were allowed on deck unchained while men were kept under lock and key. The patriarchal bullshit that led to this fact and the strength of these women who seized their advantage — one estimate suggesting that revenue lost from these slave revolts prevented nearly a million more people from being forced to endure the Middle Passage — is just astounding. Definitely recommend reading this book over and over.