Name: Wake
Rating: 4.611111111111111 (9 reviews)
ISBN: 9781982115197

Rebecca Hall

"An historical and imaginative tour-de-force, WAKE brings to light for the first time the existence of enslaved black women warriors, whose stories can be traced by carefully scrutinizing historical records; and where the historical record goes silent, WAKE reconstructs the likely past of two female rebels, Adono and Alele, on the slave ship The Unity. WAKE is a graphic novel that offers invaluable insight into the struggle to survive whole as a black woman in today's America; it is a historiography that illuminates both the challenges and the necessity of uncovering the true stories of slavery; and it is an overdue reckoning with slavery in New York City where two of these armed revolts took place. It is, also, a transformative and transporting work of imaginative fiction, bringing to three-dimensional life Adono and Alele and their pasts as women warriors. In so doing, WAKE illustrates the humanity of the enslaved, the reality of their lived experiences, and the complexity of the history that has been, till now, so thoroughly erased"--

The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts

Wake

This graphic novel "brings to light for the first time the existence of enslaved black women warriors, whose stories can be traced by carefully scrutinizing historical records; and where the historical record goes silent, Wake reconstructs the likely past of two female rebels, Adono and Alele, on the slave ship The Unity ... [The book] offers ... insight into the struggle to survive whole as a black woman in today's America; it is a historiography that illuminates both the challenges and the necessity of uncovering the true stories of slavery; and it is an overdue reckoning with slavery in New York City where two of these armed revolts took place"--

This was so powerfully told- following a historian uncovering details of women led slave revolts and retelling their stories to the best of her reconstruction. The graphic novel format made it that much more emotional. Women have been underestimated throughout history and this brought me to tears.

Abigail

A powerful mixture of graphic art and history told with poetic power and honesty. Rebecca Hall travels to archives from New York to Britain attempting to uncover hidden Black women-led slave revolts and comes upon all the challenges that those uncovering the truth often do. Instead of giving up, she and the illustrator create an artistic scene based in history (of African cultures, times and places) to bring what was rarely documented in detail, to life. 

Patty Pforte

Wren Hardwick

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a finished copy

This book really made me laugh at the fact I took a history class every year in grade school and never learned about any of these revolts. In fact, I didn’t even know there were this many revolts, and these are just a few of the women-lead ones. 

This book was so eye opening and heart breaking. I feel like this is the kind of thing that kids should be reading about and discussing in a classroom. This kind of stuff matters so much, especially with the major topics of the world today. 

I recommend reading and picking this up!

Joycelyn Ghansah

Megan Daigle

Erika

Lamia Hajani

Micke Newcomb

Abi Baker

Baylie Madison

'A must-read graphic history. . . an inspired and inspiring defence of heroic women whose struggles could be fuel for a more just future' Guardian 'Not only a riveting tale of Black women's leadership of slave revolts but an equally dramatic story of the engaged scholarship that enabled its discovery' Angela Y. Davis Women warriors planned and led slave revolts on slave ships during the passage across the Atlantic. They fought their enslavers throughout the Americas. And then they were erased from history. In Wake Rebecca Hall, a historian, a granddaughter of slaves, and a woman haunted by the legacy of slavery, tells their story. With in-depth archival research and a measured use of historical imagination, she constructs the likely pasts of women rebels who fought for freedom on slave ships bound to America, as well as the stories of women who led slave revolts in Colonial New York. Beneath both is Hall's own tale: of a life lived in the shadow of slavery and its consequences. Strikingly illustrated in black and white, Wake explores both a personal and a global legacy. Part graphic novel, part memoir, it is a powerful reminder that while the past is gone, we still live in its wake.

Wake The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts

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