Thieving Three-Fingered Jack
Thieving Three-Fingered Jack
Transatlantic Tales of a Jamaican Outlaw, 1780-2015
The fugitive slave known as “Three-Fingered Jack” terrorized colonial Jamaica from 1780 until vanquished by Maroons, self-emancipated Afro-Jamaicans bound by treaty to police the island for runaways and rebels. A thief and a killer, Jack was also a freedom fighter who sabotaged the colonial machine until his grisly death at its behest. Narratives about his exploits shed light on the problems of black rebellion and solutions administered by the colonial state, creating an occasion to consider counter-narratives about its methods of divide and conquer. For more than two centuries, writers, performers, and storytellers in England, Jamaica, and the United States have “thieved" Three Fingered Jack's riveting tale, defining black agency through and against representations of his resistance.
Frances R. Botkin offers a literary and cultural history that explores the persistence of stories about this black rebel, his contributions to constructions of black masculinity in the Atlantic world, and his legacies in Jamaican and United States popular culture.
Forthcoming African American Studies Titles, 2018: A list of the latest and soon-to-be-released publications through October 2018.
[Thieving Three-Fingered Jack: Transatlantic Tales of a Jamaican Outlaw] discusses plays and songs written about Jack Mansong, an escaped slave turned bandit who came to be revered as a freedom fighter in Jamaica for his attacks on colonial planters.
With its seamless blending of disciplinary methods, Thieving Three-Fingered Jack explains how a fugitive slave became a transatlantic legend. Botkin moves transhistorically and transnationally to describe how Jack became a fictional and theatrical icon. In the process, she highlights the many insights made possible when folklore and literary studies converge.'
Finally, the study of Obi for which we’ve been waiting: one that moves across not just historical periods but also language, culture, and media. In Thieving Three-Fingered Jack, Frances Botkin gives us an extraordinary study for understanding transatlantic literary relations. Few figures possess the necessary power to illuminate a region or an era, but Jack Mansong — especially in Professor Botkin’s hands — proves such a vehicle.'
Finally, the study of Obi for which we’ve been waiting: one that moves across not just historical periods but also language, culture, and media. In Thieving Three-Fingered Jack, Frances Botkin gives us an extraordinary study for understanding transatlantic literary relations. Few figures possess the necessary power to illuminate a region or an era, but Jack Mansong — especially in Professor Botkin’s hands — proves such a vehicle.'
With its seamless blending of disciplinary methods, Thieving Three-Fingered Jack explains how a fugitive slave became a transatlantic legend. Botkin moves transhistorically and transnationally to describe how Jack became a fictional and theatrical icon. In the process, she highlights the many insights made possible when folklore and literary studies converge.'
[Thieving Three-Fingered Jack: Transatlantic Tales of a Jamaican Outlaw] discusses plays and songs written about Jack Mansong, an escaped slave turned bandit who came to be revered as a freedom fighter in Jamaica for his attacks on colonial planters.
Forthcoming African American Studies Titles, 2018: A list of the latest and soon-to-be-released publications through October 2018.
1. Divide and Conquer: Three-Fingered Jack and the Maroons
2. "Jack Is a MAN" Prose Obis, 1800-1870
3. Staging Obi: Three-Fingered Jack in London and New York
4. Being Jack Mansong: Ira Aldridge and Three-Fingered Jack
5. After Emancipatio: Masquerade and Miscegenation
6. Mansong: No Longer "Nearly Everybody Wite"
Epilogue: "The Baddest Man Around"
Acknowledgments
Notes
Works Cited
Index
The Struggle of Non-Sovereign Caribbean Territories
Neoliberalism since the French Antillean Uprisings of 2009
Edited by H. Adlai Murdoch
