the hidden history of women-led slave revolts
"An historical . . . tour-de-force, Wake brings to light . . . the existence of enslaved black women warriors, whose stories can be traced by . . . scrutinizing historical records; and where the historical record goes silent, Wake reconstructs the . . . past of two female rebels, Adono and Alele, on the slave ship The Unity. [This book] is a graphic novel that offers . . . insight into the struggle to survive whole as a black woman in . . . America; it is a historiography that illuminates both the challenges and the necessity of uncovering the true stories of slavery; and it is an overdue reckoning with slavery in New York City where two of these armed revolts took place. It is, also, a transformative and transporting work of imaginative fiction, bringing to three-dimensional life Adono and Alele and their pasts as women warriors. In so doing, [this book] illustrates the humanity of the enslaved, the reality of their lived experiences, and the complexity of the history that has been, till now, so thoroughly erased"--Provided by publisher.