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.
Industry Reviews
A Best Book of 2021 by Forbes, and Ms. Magazine 2022 PEN Open Book Award Finalist 2022 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Debut Author Finalist June 2021 reading selection for Steph Curry's "Literati Book Club: Underrated" "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."-New York Times Book Review "Hall's eloquence and frank emotionalism are transcendently realized in Martinez art, beckoning the reader inexorably into this story - even the parts that only take place inside Hall's mind. With its remarkable blend of passion and fact, action and reflection, Wake sets a new standard for illustrating history."-NPR "Wake accomplishes what the best work in Black Studies aims to do: not just to teach us something new, but to teach us how the very shape of our knowledge could be different.... [Wake] pushes past the limits of what's possible, to tell us a story that wasn't but now can be."-Los Angeles Review of Books "Hall and Martinez deserve tremendous credit for their work in making this research accessible. Wake is a superb accomplishment on every level, and a book that every American needs to read."-POPMATTERS "A vividly illustrated account of Black women rebels that combines elements of memoir, archival research, and informed imaginings of its subjects' lives.... An urgent, brilliant work of historical excavation."-Kirkus *starred review* "Heartbreaking yet triumphant, Hall's vivid reconstructions bore laser-like into a history long hidden. Her engaged scholarship adds back facts that have been stricken from many histories, and it empowers current lives and activism. Highly recommended for educators and for all adults and teens concerned about the United States' promise, past, and future for its diverse peoples."-Library Journal, *starred review* "Hall's nuanced and affecting debut graphic narrative uncovers history that has either been assumed non-existent or rendered violently so by its almost complete erasure from official record.... The story follows Hall as she strives to write her dissertation on women-led slave revolts.... Hall's singular look at these women, along with her own experiences and resilience, highlight how entwined the past and present really are. Martinez's resonant black-and-white art cleverly integrates historical scenes into the present-day narrative."-Publishers Weekly, *starred review* "Martinez's dramatic woodcut-style illustrations are the perfect complement to Hall's clear-eyed, impactful storytelling...A necessary corrective to violent erasure and a tribute to untold strength, this awe-inspiring collaboration should find a wide audience."-Booklist, *starred review* "Not only a riveting tale of Black women's leadership of slave revolts but an equally dramatic story of the engaged scholarship that enabled its discovery." -Angela Y. Davis, Political Activist and Professor Emerita, Departments of History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies, UC Santa Cruz "In this beautiful and moving graphic novel, historian Rebecca Hall unearths a history so often overlooked: the significant role Black women played in leading slave revolts. Through Hugo Martinez's vivid graphics, combined with Hall's brilliant insights and powerful storytelling, WAKE transports the reader to a moment in time when a group of Black women set out to overturn the institution of slavery in British North America. Their courageous story, told with remarkable skill and elegance, offers hope and inspiration for us all."-Keisha N. Blain, co-editor of the #1 NYT bestseller 400 Souls, award-winning author of Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom "We that live in the wake of centuries of white supremacy feel the hidden history of our ancestors ' struggle to survive uncovered in this book. In its pages we not only feel their sorrow in bondage, but also their elation whe
