THE SEA IS VAST AND CARES NOT FOR HUMANITY. NOT ALL WHO REBEL ARE REMEMBERED.
THE SEA IS VAST AND CARES NOT FOR HUMANITY. NOT ALL WHO REBEL ARE REMEMBERED.
The story of the Robert Bowne mutiny shows the struggle of indentured Chinese men against American capitalism and a global economy which profited from their death and expendability.
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Bold and exciting, this graphic tale of mutiny on the high seas tells the true story of the Robert Bowne Rebellion of 1852—in which indentured Chinese men overthrew their captor and slave trader the American businessman Captain Leslie Bryson. This stand against American capitalism and the global economy that profited from exploitation and death. This often-overlooked part of history is brought to life through lively prose, meticulous research of archival material, by Benjamin Barson, Jason Oliver Chang, Alexis Dudden, with wonderful graphic illustration by Kim Inthavong. The Cargo Rebellion does lasting justice to the memory of the hundreds of thousands of Chinese and South Asian workers were indentured in the “coolie trade,” in hope of building a movement where human slavery can be abolished forever.
WRITTEN BY: Ben Barson, Jason Oliver Chang, and Alexis Dudden
BASED ON THE RESEARCH OF: Alexis Dudden
ILLUSTRATED BY: Kim Inthavong
LAYOUT AND EDITING: Adam Cooper-Terán
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Produced by Adam Cooper-Terán
Featuring a score by the Afro Yaqui Music Collective and the Voice Talents of UCONN Students
Eunice Cho, Haritha Subramanian, Maya Schartz, Dan Riley, Mingda Sun, Andre Chan, Jim Jiang
Adapting the illustrations of Kim Inthavong and the research of Alexis Dudden, Jason Chang, and Ben Barson, this animated short is a satirical and disturbing collage of the Robert Bowne Mutiny, intended as a companion to the comic. 12min.
Clip 1: A brief overview of the transatlantic slave trade, Haitian Revolution, and La Amistad Mutiny.
Clip 2: Concerning the Coolie Trade, leading up to the Robert Bowne Mutiny.
Clip 3: Legal ramifications of the Mutiny.
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“A powerful graphic tale of the Robert Bowne Rebellion of 1852 in one of the darkest moments of human trafficking: the coolie trade. Fearless and visually striking, The Cargo Rebellion celebrates the unbroken spirit of the dispossessed as hundreds of indentured Chinese men mutinied against the captain to set themselves free.”
—Lydia H. Liu, author of The Clash of Empires: The Invention of China in Modern World Making
“Slave Mutiny in the Pacific? Hell yeah! Here in these pages is a history we should have known, a powerful account of ‘Coolie’ rebellion during the other oceanic slave trade—the one organized in the name of free labor and abolition. Beautifully illustrated and told, this is a text you will read many times over.”
—Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination
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