In Slavery's Wake

KIRKUS REVIEWS, STARRED REVEW“The National Museum of African American History & Culture and Smithsonian Books have produced what should be considered the definitive text in understanding both Black and Brown people’s cultural contributions to world history and how the systemic implementation of slavery throughout the globe was and still is one of the key reasons for a significant amount of artifact conception and creation. Having over 30 contributors who proficiently speak to the horrors of slavery, colonialism, and capitalism, this masterpiece identifies how racially based atrocities and repulsive business decisions perilously affected millions of people in the United States, Brazil, England, South Africa, the Congo, and the many other countries involved with chattel slavery and its ramifications. Museum curators, experts, and academics contributed concise, informative, and limpidly written essays for this expertly produced anthology, which is as much a feat of graphic design as a spectacular work of nonfiction, mixing in its pages artistry, history, and personal testimony through a variety of visual, written, and aural narrative techniques. The book presents photographs of paintings, portraits, poetry, drawings, pottery, ironworks, tapestries and quilts, maps, jewelry, clothing, architecture, and more—all of which tell both the individual story of each creative person who produced the artifact and the collective story of the oppressed peoples who needed an outlet to express both their pain and their hope for a better future. The reader senses a certain catharsis from the writers themselves as they finally have an opportunity to tell the stories behind these moments of creative genius, whether they stemmed from a need for self-expression or religious epiphany or archival purpose or abject protest; the contributors, in other words, write from a place of sympathy and empathy, sadness and joy, adoration and awe. The book, thus, is ‘a living archive,’ evidencing the freedoms found through inventive expression and illustrating how slavery, though no longer legally in existence, is embedded in the fabric of history and has left an indelible and tragic mark on all of humanity. A must-read about the power of artistry over overt oppression.”NORTH DALLAS GAZETTE“This comprehensive book isn’t just about America and its history. It’s about slavery, worldwide, yesterday and today. Casual readers – non-historians especially – will, in fact, be surprised to learn, then, about slavery on other continents, how Africans left their legacies in places far from home, and how the ‘wake’ they left changed the worlds of agriculture, music, and culture. Tales of individual people round out the narrative, in legends that melt into the stories of others and present new heroes, activists, resisters, allies, and tales that are inspirational and thrilling. This book is sometimes a difficult read, and is probably best consumed in small bites that can be considered with great care to fully appreciate. Start In Slavery’s Wake, though, and you won’t be able to get it out of your mind.”

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture.

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