The Ghosts of Slavery

Our imaginative writers have wetted our appetite and continue to spoon feed us with their reconstruction of history especially the gruesome and gloomy parts, a process no doubt exacting great stress and untold strain on them. For this, we are indebted to them in no small measure.

There are numerous books to support the above but a few volumes that are within arm’s reach will suffice. As I was returning a book from which I had recently extracted a poem to perform at ‘Expressions,’ a new poetry forum, I came upon another which attracted my attention due to its cover design being somewhat similar to the cover design of the one I was replacing on the shelf. Flipping to the blurbs of those books, I came across a name that led to a third book. Well, this forage had to be adjourned or I would miss my deadline.
The three books are ‘Turner’ by David Dabydeen, ‘Feeding the Ghosts’ by Fred D’Aguair and ‘Crossing the River’ by Caryl Phillips, all published in the 1990s and dealing with the slave trade, enslaved Africans and the African Diaspora.

‘Turner’ is a long narrative poem, which the blurb said was ‘written in response to J.M.W Turner’s celebrated painting Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead & Dying and focused ‘on the submerged head of the drowning African.’ The author went into that head that was drowned for centuries and ‘invents a body, a biography, and peoples an imagined landscape’ and ‘rejects the fabrication of an idyllic past.’
Other books authored by Dabydeen include ‘Slave Song,’ ‘A Harlot’s Progress,’ and ‘Johnson’s Dictionary.’ Dabydeen was also involved in the publication of

‘The Black Presence in English Literature,’ ‘Hogarth’s Blacks: Images of Blacks in 18th-Century English Art,’ and ‘The Oxford Companion to Black British History.’
‘Feeding the Ghosts’ is a prose novel inspired by a true story of the slave ship Zong departing Africa when disease threatened all aboard. The captain ordered the crew to seize all the sick men, women and children. One hundred and thirty-two slaves were thrown overboard to their death.
D’Aguiar’s other books include ‘The longest memory,’ ‘Bill of rights’ and ‘Bloodlines.’
‘Crossing the River’ is about dislocation from Africa and reconnection to Africa covering a period of 250 years of African Diaspora movement. It is written in epistolary and journal form.
Phillip’s other books include ‘A distant shore,’ ‘Cambridge’, and ‘Higher ground.’
The above writers and many others by writing back to each other on the subject are bringing new perspectives by which we may enter into the past and appreciate the sacrifice of our ancestors.

Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com

(By Petamber Persaud)