The Slave's Rebellion: Literature, History, Orature

Acknowledgments

acknowledgments In order that I do not become like a stealer of favors, I would like to thank the following for their contributions to the completion of this project. David Simpson, then the chair of the English department at the University of Colorado , Boulder, was the first person to suggest that a paper on slave rebellions and African American literary history that I gave at the Novel of the Americas symposium in Boulder in 1992 touched upon critical issues that deserve a scrutiny far deeper than a conference piece would support. When I revisited this idea six years later, David had left Boulder and could not read the drafts. Other colleagues whose generous collegiality moved this project along, because they read and criticized versions of different parts of the book over the years, include Anna Brickhouse (University of Colorado, Boulder), Adeniyi Coker Jr. (University of Alabama, Birmingham), Tejumola Olaniyan (University of Wisconsin, Madison), and Olakunle George (Brown University ). Teju and Kunle listened to me present some of the ideas at several annual meetings of either the African Studies Association or the African Literature Association. A conference Niyi Coker organized at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, in 2000 gave me the chance to speak about slave rebellions and slave narratives to an audience of grade school teachers and college professors. I want to thank Jeff Cox and the University of Colorado’s Center for Humanities and the Arts for allowing me to speak about slave rebellions as part of its Work in Progress series. Dr. Duro Oguntebi of Tampa, Florida, read and commented on parts of chapter 6. Chidiebere Nwaubani, my “Naija” colleague at the University of Colorado, Boulder, made his expertise on historiography available to me, patiently answered my many questions about history, and always suggested far more references than I needed. I owe a sea of gratitude to Moyo Okediji, of the University of Colorado, Denver , and Denver Museum of Arts, who without hesitation gave me the permission to use, free of charge, one his paintings for the cover of this book. To all these friends and colleagues, I should serve the warning that I hope to retaliate very soon. Adeeko, Slave's Rebelion 5/5/05 3:56 PM Page ix Adeeko, Slave's Rebelion 5/5/05 3:56 PM Page x The Slave’s Rebellion Adeeko, Slave's Rebelion 5/5/05 3:56 PM Page xi Adeeko, Slave's Rebelion 5/5/05 3:56 PM Page xii ...