Middle Passage

A powerful graphic novel adaptation of the Charles R. Johnson’s National Book Award–winning American classic Middle Passage, which deftly weaves intensely researched history of the American slave trade and speculative fiction with the traditions of classic adventure tales

A riveting and raw parable of the Black experience in America, this graphic novel adaptation of Charles R. Johnson’s National Book Award–winning novel, Middle Passage, tells the story of the recently freed slave Rutherford Calhoun.

Living the life of a petty thief in 1830 New Orleans, Calhoun’s bad decisions begin to catch up to him. Blackmailed into an engagement to a Boston school teacher who promises to pay his debt to Calhoun’s creditor if he marries her, Rutherford will do anything to escape his nuptial fate, including stowing away on a ship called The Republic.

Unbeknown to him, this ship happens to be headed to Africa to capture the mystical Allmuseri tribe and bring them back to America to sell as slaves.

Adapted by Reginald Hudlin and illustrated by Denys Cowan and Don Hudson, the part speculative fiction, part action-adventure story that unfolds is one of harrowing depths, exploring the cruelty and resilience of the human spirit.