Black Thunder (Magill’s Choice: American Ethnic Writers)
At a glance:
- Author: Arna Bontemps
- First Published: 1936
- Genres: Long fiction, Historical fiction
- Subjects: African Americans, Racism, South or Southerners, Nineteenth century, Slavery or slaves, Revolutions, Capital punishment
- Locales: Richmond, VA
The Work
Black Thunder, Arna Bontemps’ defining novel, is a fictionalized account of the early nineteenth century Gabriel Insurrection, in Virginia. The novel, which chronicles the Gabriel Prosser-led rebellion against the slave owners of Henrico County, was generally lauded by critics as one of the most significant black American works of fiction. Richard Wright praised the work for dealing forthrightly with the historical and revolutionary traditions of African Americans.
Gabriel, a slave convinced that anything “equal to a grey squirrel wants to be free,”...
[The entire page is 990 words long]
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