The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts

From the archive: Rebecca Hall and Peggy Brunache

In today’s newsletter, we’ve rummaged through our archive to bring you a gem of an event from 2021…

Women warriors planned and led slave revolts on slave ships during the Middle Passage. They fought their enslavers throughout the Americas. And then they were erased from history.

In this special event, recorded in 2021, scholar and author Dr Rebecca Hall speaks to historian Dr Peggy Brunache about the research that went into her critically acclaimed graphic book, Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts. The accepted history of slave revolts has always told that enslaved women took a back seat. But in this talk, we go deeper – through old court records, slave ship captain’s logs, crumbling correspondence, and even the forensic evidence from the bones of enslaved women. As Dr Rebecca Hall details, women warriors were everywhere.

Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts was released in 2021 to critical acclaim.

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