Black Studies Book Club hosts Dr. Rebecca Hall, author of ‘Wake’
The past is gone but we still live in its wake. That’s the impetus behind the book, Wake: The Hidden History of Women-led Slave Revolts by Dr. Rebecca Hall.
The New York Times Book Review described the book, which is part graphic novel and part memoir, as “powerful.” Wake “is operating in the wake of slavery, and in a state of being awake to the past, a process Hall frames as both devastating and grounding.”
According to the book’s publisher, Simon and Schuster, Dr. Hall is “a historian, granddaughter of slaves and a woman haunted by the legacy of slavery.”
This week Dr. Hall will appear at two events on the Tulane campus to discuss the book, illustrated by New Orleans artist Hugo Martinez, and this spring’s Black Studies Book Club selection. The events are free and open to the public. Free copies of the book are available for all attendees. The books can be picked up at the Africana Studies Program Office, 300 Hebert Hall.
At a Fireside Chat, moderated by associate professor of history Laura Rosanne Adderley at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 24, in the Qatar Ballroom in the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life, the discussion will focus on both the history of women-led slave revolts and the absence of these in the historical record.
At the Book Club Discussion at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, March 25, in the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life, there will be an opportunity to discuss the book in a more intimate setting with the author and the illustrator. Lunch will be provided. This event has a limited capacity and requires pre-registration. Click here to register.
The Black Studies Book Club, sponsored by the Africana Studies Program, includes faculty and students from Tulane and other local universities as well as community members. Anyone can join the Black Studies Book Club to receive email notifications and vote on future book club selections. The listserv email is blackstudiesbookclub-l@listserv.tulane.edu.
As part of its mission to collaborate with the broader community, the Black Studies Book Club has invited students who are members of the Africana History Club at the New Orleans Charter Science and Mathematics High School to join the book club. Derek Rankins, a 2013 Tulane graduate, is Sci High’s teacher of the year and mentor for the Africana History Club.
For more information, click here or email Cory-Alice Andre-Johnson, postdoctoral scholar in Africana Studies: candrejohnson@tulane.edu.
