BFW Revisited: Running from Bondage in Revolutionary America

This book reviews and updates the scholarship on slave women and the slave family, exploring new ways of understanding the intersection of race and gender. It compares the myths that stereotyped female slaves with the realities of their lives and discusses how black women experienced freedom in the Reconstruction South. The study delves into the life cycles of female slaves, their roles within the family and community, and their resistance to economic and sexual oppression. It also examines the contrasting Jezebel and Mammy mythologies and the unique challenges faced by black women in slavery[1][3][5].

The Book of Negroes is a novel by Lawrence Hill, published in 2007. It is a work of historical fiction inspired by the real historical document called the 'Book of Negroes', which listed Black Loyalists who fled New York for Canada during the American Revolutionary War. The novel follows Aminata Diallo, who is captured by slave traders in Africa and brought to America. After years of slavery, Aminata escapes and joins the British side, helping to register the names of freed slaves in the 'Book of Negroes'. She eventually travels to Nova Scotia, Sierra Leone, and England, where she becomes a key figure in the abolitionist movement. The novel explores themes of slavery, freedom, and the migratory experiences of Black people during this period[2][3][5].