Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts

By Rebecca Hall

A Best Book of the Year by NPR and The Washington Post

An imaginative and riveting tour de force that tells the “powerful” (The New York Times Book Review) story of women-led slave revolts and chronicles scholar Rebecca Hall’s efforts to uncover the truth about these female warriors who, until now, have been left out of the historical record.

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

Wake tells the “riveting” (Angela Y. Davis) story of Dr. Rebecca Hall, a historian, granddaughter of slaves, and a woman haunted by the legacy of slavery. The accepted history of slave revolts has always told her that enslaved women took a back seat. But Rebecca decides to look deeper, and her journey takes her through old court records, slave ship captain’s logs, crumbling correspondence, and even the forensic evidence from the bones of enslaved women from the “negro burying ground” uncovered in Manhattan. She finds women warriors everywhere.

Using a “remarkable blend of passion and fact, action and reflection” (NPR), Rebecca constructs the likely pasts of Adono and Alele, women rebels who fought for freedom during the Middle Passage, as well as the stories of women who led slave revolts in Colonial New York. We also follow Rebecca’s own story as the legacy of slavery shapes her life, both during her time as a successful attorney and later as a historian seeking the past that haunts her.

Illustrated beautifully in black and white, Wake will take its place alongside classics of the graphic novel genre, like Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and Art Spiegelman’s Maus. This story of a personal and national legacy is a powerful reminder that while the past is gone, we still live in its wake.

Review for International Women’s Day

Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Dr. Rebecca Hall
It’s International Women’s Day and I have a review on theme for you. My book club's February pick was by a Black historian and writer, Dr. Rebecca Hall. Along with illustrator Hugo Martinez, this comic reads as part memoir, part historical fiction. It is perfect for fans of fans of The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Parable of the Sower (the graphic novel edition & og), Maus by Art Spiegelman, and even Hot Comb by Ebony Flowers.
Her research takes her to different libraries and archive buildings in cities across the country and to Europe as she follows threads across court documents from the 1700s and cases with vague mentions of women who lead revolts on slave ships. Most of the record would be a footnote or referenced once then never again, as these historians and people of that age did not care to actually record in detail about cases that involved slaves. Dr. Hall was still able to use those documents and research to create a story of two women who may have led one of these revolts. This entirely fictional narrative in the middle of the comic really showed just how little we as people of this day know about the past. It was said that a ship that had a majority women onboard had a much higher likelihood of a revolt taking place aboard. 1 in 10 ships had some type of uprising on their voyage, and many ended with them thrown overboard or killed before ever making it to America. But these revolts still happened throughout the entire history of transatlantic slavery.
Since this was a Black historian's perspective, a lot of the comic would show just how painful it was to read many of these records. At a certain point, Dr. Hall's character in the story takes a break from reading about this dehumanizing system that persisted for so many years. It becomes clear that certain aspects of the history are not just erased; they're told in a way that intentionally hides information, especially on the topic of revolution.
This type of work is essential in a world that still has a prison industrial system, still oppresses women and especially Black women, constantly reshaping US history in early education to not even teach kids about slavery, and has never once acknowledged its complicit history in a genocide that led to the Black American identity. If we don't know the history of revolution during the transatlantic slave trade, many of which were started by women according to Dr. Hall's conclusions, then how can we fight against today's oppression fully? Lost histories don't contain all the answers, but they certainly show patterns.
For me, this was incredibly painful to read, but this story is so necessary. I hope it makes it into classrooms the way Maus or Persepolis did in mine. I highly recommend adding it to your TBR, sharing it with any history buffs in your life, and requesting it at your local library!
If you'd like to join my book club, check out the discord for info on what we're reading next!