Blake; Or, The Huts of America

Blake; Or, The Huts of America is a novel by Martin Delany that was serialized in The Anglo-African Magazine. It follows the story of Henry Blake, a free man stolen into slavery and taken to a Mississippi plantation. He vows to find his wife, Maggie, and lead every slave to freedom. He escapes and interviews enslaved African Americans, learning their strategies for resistance and struggle. This edition of the novel is a classic work of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.

Format: Hardback
Length: 170 pages
Publication date: 15 February 2022
Publisher: West Margin Press

Martin Delany's novel Blake; Or,The Huts of America (1859-1862) is a complex work of fiction that has had a troubled publishing history due to the loss of the physical issues in which the final chapters appeared in May 1862. Despite this, the novel is considered a brilliant and unique work of fiction from an author known more for his activism and political investment in Black nationalism. Through the eyes of his hero Henry Blake, Delany envisions a future of revolutionary possibility and radical resistance to slavery and oppression. While the novel was largely ignored upon publication, it gained traction with the Black Power and Pan-Africanist Movements in the twentieth century and has earned praise from scholars such as Samuel R. Delany, who described it as "about as close to an sf-style alternate history novel as you can get."

Born free, Henry Blake is stolen into slavery from his family in the West Indies and taken to the Mississippi plantation of Colonel Stephen Franks. There, he marries Maggie, a fellow slave who happens to be the illegitimate daughter of Franks himself. When Maggie is sold away following a dispute with the master and his wife, Henry vows not only to find her, but to lead every last slave to freedom. He soon escapes, journeying in secret across the American South and interviewing enslaved African Americans along his way, learning the strategies of resistance and struggle they use every day for survival. As his reputation grows, Blake begins to organize a small uprising intended as only the first step of his radical revolutionary plan.

This edition of Martin Delany's Blake; Or,The Huts of America is a classic work of African literature. It features a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, making it an essential addition to any collection of African literature. The novel's complex publishing history and its enduring relevance to contemporary issues of race and resistance make it a must-read for anyone interested in the history and literature of the African American experience.

Dimension: 203 x 127 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781513134604