Close Menu
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    • Home
    • About Us
    • Digital Subscription
    • Advertisement
    • Contact Us
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    The Tennessee TribuneThe Tennessee Tribune
    Advertise With Us
    • Home
      • COVID-19 Resource Center
        • Dr. Henry Louis Gates’ PSA Radio
      • Featured
    • News
      • State
      • Local
      • National/International News
      • Global
      • Business
        • Commentary
        • Finance
        • Local Business
      • Investigative Stories
        • Affordable Housing
        • DCS Investigation
        • Gentrification
    • Editorial
      • National Politics
      • Local News
      • Local Editorial
      • Political Editorial
      • Editorial Cartoons
      • Cycle of Shame
    • Community
      • History
      • Tennessee
        • Chattanooga
        • Clarksville
        • Knoxville
        • Memphis
      • Public Notices
      • Women
        • Let’s Talk with Ms. June
    • Education
      • College
        • American Baptist College
        • Belmont University
        • Fisk
        • HBCU
        • Meharry
        • MTSU
        • University of Tennessee
        • TSU
        • Vanderbilt
      • Elementary
      • High School
    • Lifestyle
      • Art
      • Auto
      • Tribune Travel
      • Entertainment
        • 5 Questions With
        • Books
        • Events
        • Film Review
        • Local Entertainment
      • Family
      • Food
        • Drinks
      • Health & Wellness
      • Home & Garden
      • Featured Books
    • Religion
      • National Religion
      • Local Religion
      • Obituaries
        • National Obituaries
        • Local Obituaries
      • Faith Commentary
    • Sports
      • MLB
        • Sounds
      • NBA
      • NCAA
      • NFL
        • Predators
        • Titans
      • NHL
      • Other Sports
      • Golf
      • Professional Sports
      • Sports Commentary
      • Metro Sports
    • Media
      • Video
      • Photo Galleries
      • Take 10
      • Trending With The Tribune
    • Classified
    • Obituaries
      • Local Obituaries
      • National Obituaries
    The Tennessee TribuneThe Tennessee Tribune
    Books

    Book Review: “In Slavery’s Wake: Making Black Freedom in the World,” edited by Paul Gardullo, Johanna Obenda, and Anthony Bogues, written by various contributors

    Terri SchlichenmeyerBy Terri SchlichenmeyerDecember 14, 2024Updated:December 27, 2024No Comments3 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Telegram Pinterest Tumblr Reddit Email
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    Ever since you learned how it happened, you couldn’t get it out of your mind.

    People, packed like pencils in a box, tightly next to each other, one by one by one, tier after tier. They couldn’t sit up, couldn’t roll over or scratch an itch or keep themselves clean on a ship that took them from one terrible thing to another. And in the new book “In Slavery’s Wake,” essays by various contributors, you’ll see what trailed in waves behind those vessels.

    You don’t need to be told about the horrors of slavery. You’ve grown up knowing about it, reading about it, thinking about everything that’s happened because of it in the past four hundred years. And so have others: in 2014, a committee made of “key staff from several world museums” gathered to discuss “telling the story of racial slavery and colonialism as a world system…” so that together, they could implement a “ten-year road map to expand… our practices of truth telling…”

    Here, the effects of slavery are compared to the waves left by a moving ship, a wake the story of which some have tried over time to diminish.

    It’s a tale filled with irony: says one contributor, early American Colonists held enslaved people but believed that King George had “unjustly enslaved” the colonists.
    It’s the story of a British company that crafted shackles and cuffs and that still sells handcuffs “used worldwide by police and militaries” today.

    It’s a tale of heroes: the Maroons, who created communities in unwanted swampland, and welcomed escaped slaves into their midst; Sarah Baartman, the “Hottentot Venus”; Marème Diarra, who walked 200 miles from Sudan to Senegal with her children to escape slavery; enslaved farmers and horticulturists; and everyday people who still talk about slavery and what the institution left behind

    Today, discussions about cooperation and diversity remain essential.
    Says one essayist, “… embracing a view of history with a more expansive definition of archives in all their forms must be fostered in all societies.”

    Unless you’ve been completely unaware and haven’t been paying attention for the past 150 years, a great deal of what you’ll read inside “In Slavery’s Wake” is information you already knew and images you’ve already seen.

    Look again, though, because 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.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Terri Schlichenmeyer

    Related Posts

    “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: A Veteran’s Memoir” by Khadijah Queen

    August 12, 2025

    You need a great story this summer. You’ll find four of them here.

    July 16, 2025

    “The Ghosts of Gwendolyn Montgomery” by Clarence A. Haynes

    June 30, 2025

    “That’s How They Get You: An Unruly Anthology of Black American Humor,” edited by Damon Young

    June 21, 2025

    Fatherhood in All Its Forms: Books That Honor the Heart of a Dad

    June 11, 2025

    “The Juneteenth Alphabet” by Andrea Underwood Petifer, illustrated by Ana Latese

    June 3, 2025

    Comments are closed.

    Advertisement
    Business

    NBCC MINORITY BUSINESS OF THE WEEK: Flying Dress

    August 20, 2025

    Toon appointed new role at MMCV

    August 16, 2025

    FARM BUREAU INSURANCE OF TENNESSEE CEO JEFF PANNELL ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

    August 11, 2025
    1 2 3 … 386 Next
    Education
    Education

    TSU to Build $50M Engineering Facility

    By Alexis ClarkAugust 21, 2025

    NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – Tennessee State University is taking a step toward a future-ready campus…

    Fisk University Earns National Recognition for Commitment to First-Generation Student Success

    August 17, 2025

    Dr. Belle Wheelan Retires, Leaving Southern Colleges Stronger and More Accountable

    August 17, 2025

    APSU’s Meisch named to Clarksville-Montgomery County IDB board of directors

    August 11, 2025
    The Tennessee Tribune
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    • About Us
    • Digital Subscription
    • Store
    • Advertise With Us
    • Contact
    © 2025 The Tennessee Tribune - Site Designed by No Regret Media.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    Our Spring Sale Has Started

    You can see how this popup was set up in our step-by-step guide: https://wppopupmaker.com/guides/auto-opening-announcement-popups/