Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History

Review

"Weaving together a court transcript from 1876 and Abina's story before the trial within a broader context of gender, colonialism, and world history, the book shares historical evidence as well as interpretation to present a powerful tool for teaching history and teaching about history."--The American Historical Association "Abina and the Important Men is a tremendous step forward for the world-history community."--Journal of World History "This is an important book that takes history into the public domain in a very accessible form."--Journal of African History "Getz and Clarke have produced a text of historiographical and pedagogical significance. They illustrate with elegance and conviction the importance and potential of forging new interdisciplinary approaches."--Journal of Women's History "Although ultimately unsuccessful in her lawsuit, the intrepid character of Abina shines through in every panel, incarnating a very different kind of colonized African woman, one that threatens to replace the historian's standard for the representative with the novelist's ideal for the exceptional. By the end, Abina voices one of the conceits of the entire project: not to exert a retrospective and largely empty expression of sympathy for those wounded in the traumatic past, but to allow their stories to be heard."--Biography "Abina and the Important Men emphasizes the agency of ordinary individuals and the processes by which obscure voices are silenced in historical records. Getz and Clarke's auto-criticism actually bolsters confidence in their interpretations, while providing a most instructive example of how historians recapture the past."--Choice "The second edition of Abina's story presents a powerful human struggle paired with an engaging, honest example of historical inquiry in the form of questions and debates. It is accessible for students and provocative for readers at all levels."--Laura J. Mitchell, University of California, Irvine "The juxtaposition of multiple historical accounts from graphic history (a secondary source) to the court case transcript (a primary source) enables multiple classroom conversations about historical presentation. The graphic history concludes with a twenty-first century historian (Dr. Getz) discovering Abina's court case. The delightful inclusion of the researcher as a key 'character' in a textbook helps stress a key pedagogical point: it often takes new research interests to recover 'lost' lives, such as Abina's. Such emphasis makes the book an ideal text for introductory level history students. It is also one that will be of interest to students thinking ahead to their own careers using history degrees. Abina is a work that has something for many students."-- Andrea Felber Seligman, City College of New York, in World History Connected

Book Description

Winner of the 2014James Harvey Robinson Prizefrom the American Historical Association