Introduction; 1. Phillis and Phoebe; 2. Annis, Phillis, and Lucy; 3. Cloe; 4. Rose Butler; 5. Jane Williams; 6. Nelly, Betsy, and Ellen; 7. Lucy; Conclusion.
The powerful stories of enslaved women who waged lethal force as the ultimate form of resistance.
Nikki M. Taylor is Professor and Chair in the Department of History at Howard University. She specializes in nineteenth-century African American History. This is her fourth book.
'Nikki Taylor presents a compelling narrative not only of Black
women's deadly force, but also of their organized and collective
resistance. This study complicates the agency of women such as
Nelly, Betsy, and Ellen, and dispels the idea that enslaved women
were passive and powerless.' Karen Cook Bell, author of Running
from Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom
in Revolutionary America
'Brooding Over Bloody Revenge is a brilliant tour-de-force. This
powerful set of case studies create a prism for illuminating
African American women's intellectual arc, their lived experience
as enslaved bodies, and their powerful response to slavery's lash
and legacy. Nikki Taylor's voice offers remarkably fresh and
convincing insights concerning violence, gender, and American slave
culture.' Catherine Clinton, author of Harriet Tubman: The Road to
Freedom
This book is a powerful, gripping, and violent telling of enslaved
women's resistance. It is hard, but necessary scholarship. The past
five years have led to an explosion of cutting-edge research that
centers black women in nuanced ways. I count Nikki Taylor's new
book as part of this welcome wave.' Kellie Carter Jackson, author
of Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of
Violence
'Nikki Taylor's framing of murderous actions as part of a larger
practice of black feminist justice helps us understand these
actions were not just about freedom and resistance. Taylor shows
that enslaved women made many attempts to ameliorate their
conditions, including coordinating with others, in search of
justice.' Kelly A. Ryan, author of Everyday Crimes: Social Violence
and Civil Rights in Early America
'… a cogent reconsideration of long-held assumptions about the
gendered experience of American slavery.' Publishers Weekly
'A scorching, stunning look at private revolts against bondage.'
Washington Independent Review of Books
'Spanning from the colonial period through to the early national
and antebellum eras, Taylor's extensively researched book not only
powerfully depicts the trauma endured by enslaved women, it also
details how federal and state governments and judicial systems
propped up the institution of slavery and allowed or enacted its
overwhelming violence.' Beth Farrell, Library Journal
'…an extraordinary, and necessarily gruesome, account of the ways
in which enslaved women resisted the violence and oppression they
encountered daily. By challenging existing narratives, Taylor sheds
new light on the lengths some went to for safety, dignity, revenge
and justice.' Karla Strand, Ms. Magazine - Best Books of 2023
'Examining cases from the 1600s to 1865, Taylor reveals enslaved
women as moral agents resisting the immoral exercise of power …
Recommended.' E. R. Crowther, Choice
'… an essential title for historians of Black women's violent
resistance to slavery.' Oran Patrick Kennedy, Journal of Southern
History
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