The Black Romantic Revolution

Abolitionist Poets at the End of Slavery

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Pub Date 08 Sep 2020 | Archive Date 08 Sep 2020

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Description

The prophetic poetry of slavery and its abolition

During the pitched battle over slavery in the United States, Black writers—enslaved and free—allied themselves with the cause of abolition and used their art to advocate for emancipation and to envision the end of slavery as a world-historical moment of possibility.

These Black writers borrowed from the European tradition of Romanticism—lyric poetry, prophetic visions--to write, speak, and sing their hopes for what freedom might mean. At the same time, they voiced anxieties about the expansion of global capital and US imperial power in the aftermath of slavery. They also focused on the ramifications of slavery's sexual violence. Authors like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, George Moses Horton, Albery Allson Whitman, and Joshua McCarter Simpson conceived the Civil War as a revolutionary upheaval on par with Europe's stormy Age of Revolutions. The Black Romantic Revolution proposes that the Black Romantics' cultural innovations have shaped Black radical culture to this day, from the blues and hip hop to Black nationalism and Black feminism. Their expressions of love and rage, grief and determination, dreams and nightmares, still echo into our present.

The prophetic poetry of slavery and its abolition

During the pitched battle over slavery in the United States, Black writers—enslaved and free—allied themselves with the cause of abolition and used...


Available Editions

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ISBN 9781788735445
PRICE $26.95 (USD)
PAGES 272

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Average rating from 11 members


Featured Reviews

To be clear, this is a book about the history of the Black Romantic Revolution poets and does not include a poetry collection. It is a comprehensive history that posits that the Black Romantic Poets laid the groundwork for contemporary Black humanities. It is well researched and written. I am not usually a nonfiction reader and was hoping for more inclusion of poetry to exemplify each chapter, so I rate this a 3 because it reads like an academic text: fascinating, but dry.

Advanced copy provided courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Close enough to 4 stars

I studied Romanticism a few years ago; “The Black Romantic Revolution” definitely piqued my curiosity. While heavy on analysis — and quite wordy (written like course notes) — it can be engaging. The author’s voice rejuvenates past pieces composed by African Americans to shed light on Black poets’ rightful place in Romanticism. Black poets “reconceived Romanticism to break the aesthetic and ideological bonds of slavery and capitalism.” This book depicts their luminous spirit.

With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

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I need to start off by saying this is a fairly dense, academic read, and I learned so much! The Abolitionist era is definitely a gap in my knowledge, my "fixation" is mostly on the Reconstruction South. What you have in this book is the juxtaposition of writings by Black Romantics, and then context around it. I'm going to be honest, I have a hard time reveiwing nonfiction books. But the narrative and voice, while academic, flows well. It definitely takes a bit to work your way through but given the state of the world right now, as a Black American I recommend this for context on a little-known corner of history! Four stars because this is one of the first books I've seen on this subject, with so much information. Not five stars because it was very dense and at times difficult to work through.

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