Comic creators and creative partners Nic Watts and Sakina Karimjee are heading to Lancaster this February to talk about their acclaimed graphic novel Toussaint L’Ouverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History, published by Verso Books.
Two events – the latest in a tour to promote the book – have been arranged, one at the Gregson Centre in Lancaster on Monday 12th February, the other at Lancaster University the following day. Both events are open to the public, and the discussion will be chaired by award-winning graphic novelist Mary Talbot, along with Brian Baker and Shakthi Nataraj.
Learn about the history of this fascinating text and the author C.L.R. James’ time living in Lancashire, while fighting for decolonisation.
The events have been generously sponsored by the Lancaster University FASS Decolonisation Fund, and supported by the Department of Sociology and the Department of English and Creative Writing at Lancaster University.
The Lancaster location for these latest events is apt, a city that was an integral part of the slave trade in Britain, where various initiatives, including Facing the Past, have been launched to acknowledge and redress that largely buried history, brought into focus by the Black Lives Matter movement.
Merchants with Lancaster connections were involved in the capture and sale of around 30,000 people, making the city the fourth-largest port in Britain involved in the Transatlantic slave trade. Slave ships were built at Brockbank’s shipyards in the early 1700s.
Toussaint L’Ouverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History, decolonises our ideas of democracy, showing how the ideals of liberty, fraternity, and equality were not solely created in Europe as we are often taught, but in the minds and hearts of courageous Haitian revolutionaries who fought for their independence.
The graphic novel is a beautifully rendered graphic novel adapts a play by Trinidadian revolutionary and intellectual C.L.R. James, also author of The Black Jacobins, retelling the story of the Haitian and French Revolutions from the perspective of the Haitians.
The graphic novel has been praised by Paul Buhle, authorised biographer of C. L. R. James and editor of more than twenty radical history graphic novels, who describes it as “a marvellous adaptation of one of the most important black history and slave history books ever written. C.L.R. James would be delighted.”
“The drawings are fantastic and the energy palpable on every page.” enthused Joe Sacco, journalist and comic book artist, author of Palestine.
The graphic novel is Nic Watts first longform comics work. He’s also illustrated children’s books and newspaper articles, booklets, comics and websites.
Sakina Karimjee is a theatre designer and draughtsperson, an activist and socialist and co-creator of graphic novels with Nic.
The Haitian Revolution of 1791 to 1804 is regarded as one of the most inspiring events in history, which saw hundreds of thousands of mainly enslaved people overthrow their oppressors and defeat the imperial powers of France, Britain and Spain. The key leader of this successful slave uprising was Toussaint Louverture, who marshalled the oppressed in a number of political and military victories.
In an interview with Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century (rs21), Karimjee and Watts explained how they considered their work to be an educational tool.
“A big part of our motivation is that this is a secret history.,” Karimjee noted. “Outside of sections of the left so many people have never heard of Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution. In Britain, the mainstream narrative around how slavery ended is about William Wilberforce and white liberal politicians deciding to end slavery.”
“The idea for the book started about ten years ago,” says Nic Watts, “after I read The Black Jacobins for the umpteenth time. It is an amazing book but it is an incredibly complex history, which is difficult to follow. So I had an idea to create a graphic novel based on The Black Jacobins. I was excited about the prospect of bringing this amazing, world historical event to a wider audience.”
“The Haitian revolution is well represented in academic writing to a certain extent, but there’s virtually nothing on it in popular culture.”
The play, first staged in 1936 at London’s Westminster Theatre and presumed lost until 2005, was rediscovered by the historian Christian Hogsbjerg while he was working in the archives at the University of Hull. It was then published by Duke University Press in 2013, making it the last major work of James’s to be published.
The original performances starred the singer and actor Paul Robeson, a friend of James, as Louverture, and was the first play written by a Black person starring Black people to be performed on the British stage. It is from this blueprint that Sakina Karimjee and Nic Watts constructed their powerful graphic novel of the same title.
Reviewing the graphic novel last year for The Comics Journal, Hank Kennedy noted “James would doubtlessly approve of his work being adapted into the comics form. While Marxists from publications like the Daily Worker and the Militant were highly critical of comics, with the latter running a review of Seduction of the Innocent with the title “Comic Books – McCarthyism For the Children”. James defended the art form. In his 1950 book American Civilization, he supported the study of comic strips Dick Tracy and Gasoline Alley and attacked the elitism of Marxist critics of popular culture: ‘to believe that the great masses of the people are merely passive recipients of what the purveyors of popular art give to them is in reality to see people as dumb slaves.’”
“Graphic novels are a brilliant way of simply communicating complex ideas, political and emotional,’ says Nic Watts. ‘They’re a good way of presenting stories, as the mix of words and images hit you in your brain in two different places and reinforce one another. That’s one of the reasons that graphic novels are used more in educational settings. Also, reluctant readers are less likely to be intimidated by them than a work of prose. As Art Spiegelman said, “Comics are a gateway drug to literacy”.’
‘The graphic novel is an emotional journey.’
“Since we started working on this project a decade ago, the Black Lives Matter movement has transformed the conversation around race and justice,” Sakina noted in the rs21 interview. ‘Ten years ago the true story of the end of slavery seemed relevant and inspirational but now these issues are centre stage so this book seems very timely. When we started this project we couldn’t have imagined that when we published the book there would be an international debate around the legacy of slavery, that people would be pulling down statues in Bristol, that there would be serious conversations about reparations for slavery.”
• Toussaint L’Ouverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History 7.00pm – 8.30pm Monday 12th February 2024 The Gregson Arts & Community Centre 33 – 35 Moor Gate, Lancaster LA1 3PY | Or Tuesday 11.00 – 12.30pm 13th February 2024 The Hall, The Welcome Center Lancaster University | Book your tickets here through EventBrite
For any queries contact Shakthi Nataraj at s.nataraj@lancaster.ac.uk
• Buy Toussaint L’Ouverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History, from your local bookshop via Bookshop.org | AmazonUK (Affiliate Links) | 272 Pages | ISBN: 9781788737906
• Read Hank Kennedy’s review for The Comics Journal
• Nic Watts is online at nicwatts-illustrator.com
• Toussaint L’Ouverture: A Play in Three Acts | Duke University Press. Durham and London 2013 – available from your local bookshop via Bookshop.org | AmazonUK (Affiliate Links)
This edition includes the program, photographs and reviews from that production, a contextual introduction and editorial notes on the play by Christian Hogsbjerg, and selected essays and letters by James and others
• Jacobin: When Paul Robeson Played Toussaint Louverture
Socialist actor, musician, and civil rights campaigner Paul Robeson viewed the Haitian Revolution as a guiding light in the struggle for freedom and dignity. An article by Christian Høgsbjerg, who teaches history at the University of Brighton and is the author of C. L. R. James in Imperial Britain.
• The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution by C.L.R. James – available from your local bookshop via Bookshop.org | AmazonUK (Affiliate Links)
C. L. R. James’s pioneering account of the 1791 San Domingo slave revolt and the creation of the republic of Haiti changed the way colonial history was written. By putting the experiences of the slave rebels, led by Toussaint L’Ouverture, centre stage, James made them agents of their own story. His work, written as part of the fight to end colonialism in Africa, helped inspire radical liberation movements worldwide, from Black Power to Castro’s revolution in the Caribbean.
• Facing the Past is a city-wide programme based in Lancaster that delivered creative activity throughout 2023 and created a permanent digital resource. Facing the Past was made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, the project has been able to bring greater awareness to Lancaster’s historic involvement in trans-Atlantic slavery and the legacies of this today. It includes: an interactive digital map (which can be accessed on the Facing the Past site); a public performance event; a public memorial consultation with young people and newly commissioned research.
Lancaster was the fourth largest slaving port in the United Kingdom. During the eighteenth century, there were more than 200 sailings to Africa, and an estimated 30,000 Africans were enslaved and transported across the Atlantic. The Transatlantic Slave Trade was participated in, either directly or indirectly, by most trades and professions in Lancaster.
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics - Graphic Novels, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events
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Hi John,
Thanks so much for your great and comprehensive article. Really appreciate it.
Plenty more events coming up in the next couple of months, Brighton, University of Colorado on zoom, London, Bristol, University of Cambridge. Check out Nic’s instagram for details @nicwatts_illustrator
Best wishes,
Sakina Karimjee