(eBook PDF) Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History (Graphic History Series) – Digital Ebook – Instant Delivery Download
product details:
- ISBN-10 : 0190238747
- ISBN-13 : 978-0190238742
- Author:
Winner of the James Harvey Robinson Prize from the American Historical Association–and widely acclaimed by educators and students–Abina and the Important Men, Second Edition, is a compelling and powerfully illustrated “graphic history” based on an 1876 court transcript of a West African woman named Abina, who was wrongfully enslaved and took her case to court. The book is a microhistory that does much more than simply depict an event in the past; it uses the power of illustration to convey important themes in world history and to reveal the processes by which history is made.
The story of Abina Mansah–a woman “without history” who was wrongfully enslaved, escaped to British-controlled territory, and then took her former master to court–takes place in the complex world of the Gold Coast at the onset of late nineteenth-century colonialism. Slavery becomes a contested ground, as cultural practices collide with an emerging wage economy and British officials turn a blind eye to the presence of underpaid domestic workers in the households of African merchants. The main scenes of the story take place in the courtroom, where Abina strives to convince a series of “important men”–a British judge, two Euro-African attorneys, and a jury of local leaders–that her experiences and perceptions matter. “Am I free?” Abina inquires. Throughout both the court case and the flashbacks that dramatically depict her life in servitude, both the defendants and members of the court strive to “silence” Abina and to impose their own understandings and meanings upon her.
table of contents:
PART I: THE GRAPHIC HISTORY
Chapter 1: Abina Awakes
Chapter 2: The Breaking of the Beads
Chapter 3: The Truth
Chapter 4: Life at Quamina Eddoo’s House
Chapter 5: He Did Nothing Good for Me
Chapter 6: Abina Silenced, Abina Redeemed
PART II: THE TRANSCRIPT
The Testimony of Abina Mansah
The Testimony of Eccoah Coom
The Testimony of Adjuah N’Yamiweh
The Testimony of Yowahwah
PART III: HISTORICAL CONTEXT
The Gold Coast, ca. 1876
The British Civilizing Mission
The Civilizing Mission in the Gold Coast
Slavery in the Gold Coast
The Atlantic Slave Trade and Abolition
Abina Mansah and the Important Men
PART IV: READING GUIDE
Whose Story Is This?
Is This a “True” Story?
Is This “Authentic” History?
PART V: ENGAGING ABINA
Gendering Abina
Was Abina a slave?
Sandra Greene, “Who was Abina Mansah?”
Kwasi Konadu, “Was Abina Mansah a ‘Slave’?”
Antoinette Burton, “Sex and Slavery in the 1876 Case of Abina Mansah”
people also search:
You may also like…
Medicine - Cardiology
