Georges, Danielle Legros: Acts of Resistance to New England Slavery by Africans Themselves in New England

In Danielle Legros Georges’ work, the dead dance across the page in light. Using found text and the voice of “Africans Themselves in New England” Legros Georges crafts lyrics in ode to resistance. She weaves defiance with the poetics and does not shy from the truth and horror of slavery. Afterall, Danielle Legros Georges makes it clear: this body of work is not about the inhumane but rather, it is the lyrical documentation of overt resistance and the declaration of life from Black and African folks who were enslaved. In couplets enriched in imagery, Legros Georges beckons us to remember. In each poem, breath is offered and suspended. My god— these poems—this poet. — Porsha Olayiwola

Danielle Legros-Georges’ Acts of Resistance to New England Slavery by Africans Themselves in New England is a powerful and lyrical reckoning with the often-overlooked narratives of Black resistance in the North. Through a series of searing, evocative poems, Legros-Georges breathes life into historical figures like Elizabeth Freeman, Crispus Attucks, and Phillis Wheatley, illuminating their acts of defiance, self-making, and self-liberation. The collection reclaims the stories of those who resisted through legal battles, rebellion, survival, and sheer will, transforming archival records into haunting, and necessary verse. With a poet’s ear for rhythm and a historian’s eye for detail, Acts of Resistance is an essential meditation on the specter of enslavement, the unwashable stains of history, the fundamental poignancy of human agency, and the many forms of freedom-seeking that shaped early America. This chapbook is an archival “green field of imagining.” — Patrick Sylvain