Historian (from below), award-winning author, filmmaker, playwright, Distinguished Professor, University of Pittsburgh marcusrediker.comhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mvs376oeqs2hMy blurb: “Graham Hodges has made a lifetime of major contributions to the study of American slavery and abolition. His biography of Henry Highland Garnet is a triumph -- a deeply-researched and altogether brilliant portrait.” https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300279566/henry-highland-garnet/18 Sep 2026 11:34 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvs376oeqs2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mvpiz7dctc2lHappy to say that my book *Freedom Ship* will be published in Italian as *Fugitives: The Secret Routes to Freedom* by Elèuthera Edizioni, based in Milan. This is the second translation to appear so far, the other in German, with a third coming in Spanish. https://www.eleuthera.it/scheda_libro.php?idlib=63617 Sep 2026 11:04 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvpiz7dctc2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mvn2mdojsc25Honored that my book *Freedom Ship* has been named a finalist for this year's #Slaveryarchive Book Prize. [contains quote post or other embedded content]16 Sep 2026 11:41 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvn2mdojsc25https://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mvmy6nsctc2vPenn was a good place to study while I was there, from 1976-1982: Dell Hymes and William Labov (linguistics), Arjun Appadurai and Anthony Wallace (anthropology), and Erving Goffman (sociology). I learned the most from a historian of great and unruly brilliance, early Americanist Michael Zuckerman.16 Sep 2026 10:57 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvmy6nsctc2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mvkivozxek2xWhen I arrived at Penn for graduate study 50 years ago, I had no idea what I was getting into. No one in my family had ever gone to college, much less grad school. As Malcom X said, you could have hung a placard around my neck that said “hick” and it couldn’t have been any more obvious.15 Sep 2026 11:18 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvkivozxek2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mvhvsadbk22pFifty years ago this month I went to Penn for graduate study: Early American/Caribbean slavery with Richard S. Dunn. I began to study sailors and pirates and eventually wrote what would become my first book, *Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea* (1987). I returned to slavery in subsequent books.14 Sep 2026 10:31 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvhvsadbk22phttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mvfjy65fak24Many years ago, when I was in graduate student at Penn, the anthropologist Clifford Geertz invited me to come work with him as one-year fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. I was forced to decline, but I have always wondered what would have happened had I gone.13 Sep 2026 11:54 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mvfjy65fak24https://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mv65pxm6tc26Film screening in NYC: We will show *Becoming Benjamin Lay* at New York University on Monday, Sept. 28 at 7:00 pm in the Espacio de Culturas auditorium, King Juan Carlos Center, 53 S. Washington Square. The event is free but please register by the link below: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/becoming-benjamin-lay-film-screening-and-conversation-with-marcus-rediker-tickets-2000262829970?aff=oddtdtcreator10 Sep 2026 13:26 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mv65pxm6tc26https://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3muyyc33ehc2xWe will hold the launch of our graphic novel *The Black Schooner: Rebellion on the Amistad, A Graphic Novel* at the New Haven Museum on Wed., Sept. 30 at 6:00 pm. The event is free but registration is required. See the link below. Join us! https://zip06.com/news/918822/graphic-novel-explores-the-amistad-rebellion/08 Sep 2026 12:06 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3muyyc33ehc2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3muwglisppk24Thrilled to team up with vocalist Karen Somerville to present my book *Freedom Ship* through story and song at the Downrigging Festival in Chestertown, MD, Friday, Oct. 30. I loved working with Karen on a similar presentation of the *The Slave Ship* years ago. https://downrigging.org/event/american-schooner-association-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3/07 Sep 2026 11:44 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3muwglisppk24https://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mumcgenxsc2fGrateful to the good people at City of Asylum (@cityofasylum.bsky.social) for the screening of *Becoming Benjamin Lay* Monday evening before a large and enthusiastic audience, in person and online. With film director Tony Buba and Darin Lee, Director of Public Programming at CoA.03 Sep 2026 11:03 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mumcgenxsc2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mujx3eazcc2vAs many of you know, I am a collector of Haitian art. Here is a 1955 painting by a little-known artist named Roland Bigaud, who might have been related to the famous Wilson Bigaud. The luminous color used to depict a vodou ceremony is extraordinary.02 Sep 2026 12:34 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mujx3eazcc2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3muhcw7ufo22xHonored that our film *Becoming Benjamin Lay* is an official selection of Pittsburgh’s ReelAbilities Film Festival. Anyone in PA, OH, and WV who would like to watch the film and at the same time support the festival, may screen it here between Sept. 4-13: https://reela26.eventive.org/films/6a7a2fb3ae1895a63f35b1b001 Sep 2026 11:28 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3muhcw7ufo22xhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mueqqcwoe22qFor the many of you who have expressed a desire to see our new documentary film, *Becoming Benjamin Lay*, here is an opportunity. Wherever you live, you can livestream tonight’s screening at @cityofasylum.bsky.social, 7:00 pm, through Vimeo. Sign up to do so here: https://cityofasylum.org/program/tony-buba-marcus-rediker-present-becoming-benjamin-lay/31 Aug 2026 10:57 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mueqqcwoe22qhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mucax4zdns27Tomorrow evening, Monday, Aug. 31! Join Tony Buba and me for the screening of our film, *Becoming Benjamin Lay*, at @cityofasylum.bsky.social, 40 W. North Ave. on Pittsburgh’s Northside, 7:00 pm, in-person or remote. Please register for the free event here: https://cityofasylum.org/program/tony-buba-marcus-rediker-present-becoming-benjamin-lay/30 Aug 2026 11:10 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mucax4zdns27https://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mu5afxgsx22eMy blurb for a terrific book coming in Jan. 2027: "... Christian Hogsbjerg places revolt by enslaved people at the center of a creative and inspiring Atlantic-wide freedom story, renewing and going beyond CLR James’s classic *History of Pan-African Revolt*." https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/atlantic-history-in-15-slave-revolts-9781350386402/28 Aug 2026 11:17 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mu5afxgsx22ehttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mtybb6rwkk2jWanted to let everyone know that we are still working on a distribution plan that would allow people around the world to watch our new documentary film, *Becoming Benjamin Lay*. Meantime, we will screen the film here and there, Aug. 31 in Pittsburgh (City of Asylum) and Sept. 28 at NYU.26 Aug 2026 11:49 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtybb6rwkk2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mtvudtyrrs2lSad to learn of the death of my friend Ruth Hsu, who taught literature at the University of Hawai’i-Mānoa. Ruth was a lively presence in a course I taught at UH in 2019, “How to Write History from Below.” She was smart, learned, funny, kind, and gracious. I shall miss her very much. RIP.25 Aug 2026 12:52 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtvudtyrrs2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mttfvgypnc2yIt was my great pleasure to see a spectacular performance of Shakespeare’s *The Tempest* last night at the Carrie Furnace Works, produced by Quantum Theatre. This brings to a close the illustrious career of Artistic Director Karla Boos, who founded Quantum in 1990. She went out in a blaze of glory!24 Aug 2026 13:28 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mttfvgypnc2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mtt5cei7bk2rNext Monday, August. 31, 7:00 pm: Tony Buba and I will screen our film, *Becoming Benjamin Lay*, at City of Asylum (@cityofasylum.bsky.social). Join us! The event is free but registration is requested though the link below. https://cityofasylum.org/program/tony-buba-marcus-rediker-present-becoming-benjamin-lay/24 Aug 2026 10:54 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtt5cei7bk2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mtlpaj4r5s2zTremendously honored that my book *Freedom Ship* has been given a Josephine Miles Award by PEN Oakland, a writers group founded by Ishmael Reed and others in 1991, the “Blue Collar PEN,” according to the *New York Times*. Other winners this year include Walter Mosley and Boots Riley.21 Aug 2026 11:54 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtlpaj4r5s2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mtj2a6towc2aHere is an interview I did about the body of my work with Thiago Gama for the Brazilian platform @outraspalavras.net. The title is “The Ship: The Factory before the Factory.” You can read it in either Portuguese or (with Google translate) English. https://outraspalavras.net/historia-e-memoria/rediker-o-navio-a-fabrica-antes-da-fabrica/20 Aug 2026 10:33 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mtj2a6towc2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3mt72faoyvc2qSad to hear of the passing of Sumit Sarkar, one of India’s greatest historians. It was an honor to meet him when I visited Kolkata and Delhi in 2008. He was a brilliant, gentle, altogether lovely man. The world is poorer today. https://frontline.thehindu.com/other/obituary/sumit-sarkar-historian-modern-india-history/article71349040.ece16 Aug 2026 11:09 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3mt72faoyvc2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3msxjwrnz422jIn my new book on “history from below,” I will discuss what I learned from my grandfather, a coal miner and a master storyteller, as he sat at the kitchen table, Lucky Strike cigarette in one hand, a cup of Maxwell House coffee in the other, spinning marvelous tales. He worked in Beech Creek, KY.13 Aug 2026 11:26 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3msxjwrnz422jhttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3ms45ussirc2kFor all you writers out there: a list of sixteen writing tips, culled from long experience of trying get unruly words down onto the page. Originally posted on social media, recently republished in the *Pittsburgh Review of Books (@pghreviewofbooks.bsky.social). https://pghrev.com/sixteen-writing-tips-from-marcus-rediker/02 Aug 2026 14:08 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3ms45ussirc2khttps://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3msb7lihhfs23Later this month — please mark your calendars! Tony Buba and I will screen our film, *Becoming Benjamin Lay* at the City of Asylum, 40 W North Ave., Pittsburgh on Monday, August 31 at 7:00 pm. Join us! https://cityofasylum.org/program/tony-buba-marcus-rediker-present-becoming-benjamin-lay/04 Aug 2026 14:22 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3msb7lihhfs23https://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3ms6dwdfa2k27A third thing-I-planned-to-do but never did: write an overview of labor history for 17c/18c North America, a book-length version of my article “Good Hands, Stout Hearts, and Fast Feet.” Commissioned by Eric Foner for Hill & Wang Books. I was too busy with *The Many Headed-Hydra*.03 Aug 2026 11:02 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3ms6dwdfa2k27https://bsky.app/profile/marcusrediker.bsky.social/post/3ms45ussirc2kFor all you writers out there: a list of sixteen writing tips, culled from long experience of trying get unruly words down onto the page. Originally posted on social media, recently republished in the *Pittsburgh Review of Books (@pghreviewofbooks.bsky.social). https://pghrev.com/sixteen-writing-tips-from-marcus-rediker/02 Aug 2026 14:08 +0000at://did:plc:hss2ujwkcssduntvonxtv3ab/app.bsky.feed.post/3ms45ussirc2k