Run For It: Stories of Slaves Who Fought For Freedom was an impulse borrow from my local library’s nonfiction graphic novels section. I’m constantly surprised what springs up on those shelves, and Run For It is a beauty of a find.
From the 1500s, to 1800s, slavery was legal in colonized Brazil. Along with many others, the Bantu peoples (the indigenous people from regions that are today parts of Angola and the Congo) were forcibly transported to Brazil to work the sugar plantations. Obviously, many Bantu rebelled in big and small ways. A sizable contingent escaped into Brazil’s hinterlands to form what came to be called mocambos, or village settlements. Run For It contains four stories of rebellion, which tread the line of historical record, Bantu folklore, and d’Salete’s vivid imagination.
Run For It is a conversation d’Salete is having with his own people. It’s written for and by the Bantu. I’m a lucky bystander. The introduction, Forward by Angolan writer Allan da Rosa, and back matter Glossary helped immensely orienting me to the culture, its language, and its symbology. The art is stark and bold, with limited color palette. Even without words, I could feel the anger, desperation, pain, and grief. These aren’t happy, bedtime tales, but characters using the last of their strength to crawl away and enact revenge.
Overall, Run For It handily earned its 5 stars. Read it in a quiet moment.
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