A Glossary of Black Women in Rebellion

Glossary

a collection of textual glosses or of specialized terms with their meanings

Gloss

1: to deal with (a subject or problem) too lightly or not at all -- used with over; 2: a false and often willfully misleading interpretation; 3: a brief explanation (as in the margin or between the lines of a text) of a difficult or obscure word or expression; 4: a deceptively attractive appearance

This project is a glossary aimed at thinking on some archival and literary fragments regarding black women and their specific and critical roles in the history of black rebellion during and after the time of slavery in the americas. Looking at and thinking about the history of black women in rebellions compels questions about what we consider rebellion and why, what histories are recorded and how--it's a critical location of fragments, gaps, the unknowable.

This project takes on the form of a glossary in hopes of illuminating these gaps and tensions: places where history and its recording fall short. My hope for this document is that it asks questions, rather than provides answers.

In creating this project I have become obsessed with the different ways the term “gloss” can be applied to it, and how many questions this forces me to grapple with:

Gloss

1: Would it be possible to deal with this subject in a way that isn’t too light? How many words, lives, theories are glossed-over for each one I touch on?; 2: How can we determine what is false/misleading in an archive? How does my work reproduce that? Am I concerned with locating an objective truth? How does the archive, the literature resist this?; 3: Reading between the lines?, What makes a word obscure? How does a history become obscured?; 4: How deceptively attractive is it to be so reductive?