From the colonial through the antebellum era, enslaved women in the US used lethal force as the ultimate form of resistance. By amplifying their voices and experiences, Brooding over Bloody Revenge strongly challenges assumptions that enslaved women only participated in covert, non-violent forms of resistance, when in fact they consistently seized justice for themselves and organized toward revolt. Nikki M. Taylor expertly reveals how women killed for deeply personal instances of injustice committed by their owners. The stories presented, which span centuries and legal contexts, demonstrate that these acts of lethal force were carefully pre-meditated. Enslaved women planned how and when their enslavers would die, what weapons and accomplices were necessary, and how to evade capture in the aftermath. Original and compelling, Brooding Over Bloody Revenge presents a window into the lives and philosophies of enslaved women who had their own ideas about justice and how to achieve it.

Winner, 2024 Slaveryarchive Book Prize, Slaveryarchive

‘Nikki Taylor presents a compelling narrative not only of Black women’s deadly force, but also of their organized and collective resistance. This study complicates the agency of women such as Nelly, Betsy, and Ellen, and dispels the idea that enslaved women were passive and powerless.’

Karen Cook Bell - author of Running from Bondage: Enslaved Women and Their Remarkable Fight for Freedom in Revolutionary America

‘Brooding Over Bloody Revenge is a brilliant tour-de-force. This powerful set of case studies create a prism for illuminating African American women’s intellectual arc, their lived experience as enslaved bodies, and their powerful response to slavery’s lash and legacy. Nikki Taylor’s voice offers remarkably fresh and convincing insights concerning violence, gender, and American slave culture.’

Catherine Clinton - author of Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

This book is a powerful, gripping, and violent telling of enslaved women’s resistance. It is hard, but necessary scholarship. The past five years have led to an explosion of cutting-edge research that centers black women in nuanced ways. I count Nikki Taylor’s new book as part of this welcome wave.’

Kellie Carter Jackson - author of Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence

‘Nikki Taylor’s framing of murderous actions as part of a larger practice of black feminist justice helps us understand these actions were not just about freedom and resistance. Taylor shows that enslaved women made many attempts to ameliorate their conditions, including coordinating with others, in search of justice.’

Kelly A. Ryan - author of Everyday Crimes: Social Violence and Civil Rights in Early America

‘… a cogent reconsideration of long-held assumptions about the gendered experience of American slavery.’

Source: Publishers Weekly

‘A scorching, stunning look at private revolts against bondage.’

Source: Washington Independent Review of Books

‘Spanning from the colonial period through to the early national and antebellum eras, Taylor’s extensively researched book not only powerfully depicts the trauma endured by enslaved women, it also details how federal and state governments and judicial systems propped up the institution of slavery and allowed or enacted its overwhelming violence.’

Beth Farrell Source: Library Journal

‘…an extraordinary, and necessarily gruesome, account of the ways in which enslaved women resisted the violence and oppression they encountered daily. By challenging existing narratives, Taylor sheds new light on the lengths some went to for safety, dignity, revenge and justice.’

Karla Strand Source: Ms. Magazine - Best Books of 2023

‘Examining cases from the 1600s to 1865, Taylor reveals enslaved women as moral agents resisting the immoral exercise of power … Recommended.’

E. R. Crowther Source: Choice

‘… an essential title for historians of Black women’s violent resistance to slavery.’

Oran Patrick Kennedy Source: Journal of Southern History