The Black Schooner: Rebellion on the Amistad, a Graphic Novel

The Black Schooner: Rebellion on the Amistad, a Graphic Novel - Paperback

$18.95
$18.95
Skip to product information
The Black Schooner: Rebellion on the Amistad, a Graphic Novel
  • The Black Schooner: Rebellion on the Amistad, a Graphic Novel
The Black Schooner: Rebellion on the Amistad, a Graphic Novel - Paperback

The Black Schooner: Rebellion on the Amistad, a Graphic Novel - Paperback

by David Lester , Marcus Rediker
$18.95
$18.95

Book Overview

A stunning graphic history of how enslaved Africans on board the Amistad rebelled and captured the slave ship in 1839, challenging a whitewashed version of history and putting the Africans back at the center of their own freedom story

From the trio of Rediker, Lester, and Buhle comes another graphic "history from below" about the Amistad rebellion of 1839 when 53 enslaved Africans on the slave ship Amistad slipped out of their restraints and overpowered their enslavers and ship's crew. Sold into slavery in their homeland of Sierra Leone and later bound for Puerto Príncipe, Cuba, from Havana, these Africans, led by the charismatic warrior Cinqué, forced the ship's remaining crew to sail homeward.

Divided into 3 parts, The Black Schooner begins with the intense night of the uprising and takes readers on a reconstructed journey: from sailing on the open ocean to a New Haven, Connecticut, jail, where the captured Africans awaited trial for mutiny and murder; to the Supreme courtroom that found that the rebels had been illegally enslaved and would now be free to return to their native land. Through it all, artist David Lester chronicles their story using striking imagery, showing how they achieved an unexpected and powerful international victory for the abolitionist movement and forced some of the most powerful people in the world to confront the issue of human bondage.

Based on Rediker's book The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom, The Black Schooner challenges a whitewashed history and instead, puts the Africans back at the center of their own freedom story--where they belong.
ISBN9780807016909
Author David Lester , Marcus Rediker
PublisherBeacon Press
GenreHistory and Comics & graphic novels
FormatPaperback
PublishedJune 2026
LanguageENG- English
Pages136
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Comics & Graphic Novels History Nonfiction

1% fer Each of the Seven Seas

Every purchase sends 7% of our profits to The Ocean Cleanup. No fine print, no opt-in — just how we sail.

Whoever Ye Be, Welcome Aboard

Queer lit, music, art, philosophy, fiction — stories for every kind of soul. Come as ye are, matey.

More by David Lester

The Black Schooner: Rebellion on the Amistad, a Graphic Novel

The Black Schooner: Rebellion on the Amistad, a Graphic Novel - Paperback

The Black Schooner: Rebellion on the Amistad, a Graphic Novel - Paperback

By David Lester and Marcus Rediker
About David Lester
David Lester illustrated the award-winning 1919: A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike (published in English, German and French editions). His poster of anti-war protester Malachi Ritscher was exhibited at The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Forthcoming in 2025, Lester has a chapter in the anthology Partisans: A Graphic History of Anti-fascist Resistance (Between The Lines), edited by Paul Buhle and Raymond Tyler. He lives in Vancouver, Canada.
About Marcus Rediker
Marcus Rediker is the Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh and the award-winning author of The Slave Ship and The Amistad Rebellion. He lives in Pittsburgh.

You may also like