![]() ![]() ![]() Lay, an anti-slavery Quaker who maintained a persistent prophetic witness among Friends, just as a young John Woolman garnered his first anti-slavery leadings, was given to striking actions in his opposition to slavery, prompting at least occasional interest among biographers including Benjamin Rush (1790), Roberts Vaux (1815), and the latest entrant by Marcus Rediker, under review now. This is Rediker’s first book-length treatment of a Quaker historical figure. ![]() In this book, Rediker hopes “to illuminate and overcome once and for all the condescension, opposition, and isolation received from his contemporaries and from some who have written about him since his death” (151). ![]() He first encountered Benjamin Lay (1682-1759) in his research on The Many-Headed Hydra. Marcus Rediker, Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh, has published many excellent volumes with African and Afro-diaspora themes, including The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic (2000) The Slave Ship (2007) and The Amistad Rebellion (2012). A Review of Marcus Rediker, The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist. Boston: Beacon Press, 2017. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |