The Maroons in the United States: Enslaved Africans who ran away, armed themselves, and lived free independent lives on the fringes of a chattel slavery system

The presentation will include a reading and book signing of her newly released historical novel "I Spread My Wings and I Fly."

I Spread My Wings and I Fly is an historical novel set in the mid 1850s southern Louisiana.  The novel focuses on the maroons (enslaved Africans who ran away, armed themselves, and lived free independent lives on the fringes of a chattel slavery system) in the United States, the psychological effects of slavery, and the dynamics of Black culture, folklore, and philosophy.  Based on historical documentation, folklore, myths, songs, slave narratives, and ethnographic studies, the novel attempts to illustrate through the epic narrative form, the rich, varied, and highly metaphysical culture of enslaved Africans, their militancy, self-expression, and persistent struggle for freedom

Presenter: Dr. Nubia Kai, Author of “I Spread My Wings and I Fly“