The Cargo Rebellion: Those Who Chose Freedom

by Jason Chang, Ben Barson, Alexi Dudden

The Cargo Rebellion tells a true story of mutiny on the high seas in which four hundred indentured Chinese men overthrew their captor, the Connecticut businessman and slave trader Leslie Bryson, taking a stand against an exploitative global enterprise. The laborers learned that Bryson’s claimed destination of San Francisco was a lie to trick them into deadly servitude in the dreaded guano islands of Peru. Reaching a dramatic tipping point, the mutineers rose up and killed Bryson and several of the ship's officers and then attempted to sail back to China. This book's centerpiece, a deft graphic account of the rebellion in the context of the “coolie trade” and the struggle to end traffic in human “cargo,” is supported by essays that spotlight the rebellion itself, how the subject of indentured Asian workers is being taught in classrooms, and how Chinese workers shaped the evolution of American music, particularly in the making of the first drum set. The Cargo Rebellion is a history from below that does justice to the memory of hundreds of thousands of indentured workers and demonstrates how Asian migration to the Americas was rooted in slavery, colonialism, and the life-and-death struggle against servitude.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Graphic Novels Comics, Graphic Novels, Comics

64 pages, Hardcover

Published March 7, 2023

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm getting more than a little tired of graphic novels produced by people who really don't understand graphic novels.

While the topic of this history is quite fascinating, the execution as a comic is lifeless and dreary as giant blocks of text are piled around illustrations that make use of sequential art exactly once and word balloons twice.

Even worse, the twenty-page comic is overwhelmed by the twenty-five pages of three academic essays that follow. (And, hey, there is a reason that traditional comic book letter pages were broken into two or three columns; it's hard to follow lines of small text back and forth across a page that is one to three inches wider than a traditional hardcover or paperback book.) Ten minutes of comic, an hour of textbook.

Again, the topic is deserving of wider attention. The end of the transatlantic slave trade in the 19th century was offset by a rise in the trafficking of indentured Chinese people across the Pacific. Occasionally, the "cargo" rebelled against their fate and rose up against the crew, as in the case of the ship Robert Bowne vaguely recounted here in comic form and in more satisfying detail in the first essay.

The second essay is a boring reflection on how a teaching module about Asian indenture went over with some eighth graders one time. The curriculum sounds way more interesting than this report on it.

The third essay strays a little from topic as it talks about the influence the Chinese immigrants had on jazz music in Louisiana and the development of the drum set. Some of the conclusions seem a bit tenuous at times based on the minimal evidence presented, but it's nice to think about some productive cross-cultural seeding.

For an example of how to better use the power of graphic novels to enliven a similar topic, I recommend reading the excellent Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts.


FOR REFERENCE:

Contents:
• The Cargo Rebellion / Jason Oliver Chang, Benjamin Barson, and Alexis Dudden, writers; Kim Inthavong, illustrator
• Intermission
• The Robert Bowne Mutiny / Alexis Dudden, writer
• Teaching Asian Indenture / Jason Oliver Chang, writer
• From Plantation Percussion to the Sound of Solidarity / Benjamin Barson, writer

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just received it in the mail and finished it today. I regret to say I really knew very little about the trade of indentured servants from Asia to the Americas, but this graphic novel and collection of three essays was really educational in terms of correcting that deficit. I really shouldn’t be surprised when I learn something new and terrible about what essentially turned out to be compulsory labor in America. I do wish that there would have been more illustrations and more of a narrative, but I understand that choices were made and there probably wasn’t any desire to fictionalization any narrative that wasn’t readily available and based by firsthand accounting. The essays were a nice accompaniment to the graphic novel.

[Elspeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had a very interesting story that I hadn't heard about. The major issue with this book is it doesn't know what it is/wants to be. The first 1/5 is a graphic novel retelling of the story of the Chinese that were enslaved and taken by boat to America, Peru, and other places.

However, after about 20 pages, it's over. The author prints his original material he used to write the graphic novel - three academic articles about the Chinese servitude in early America. I'm giving it 1/2 extra star for the last article which was really interesting in itself. It was about the percussion influence that the Chinese brought with them on African American rhythms and the beginning of Jazz. That was (mostly) worth reading the book itself.

[Lewis Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cargo Rebellion is a short book with a collection of essays on: a mutiny, the British and American reliance upon often coerced indentured workers as the African slave trade was declining, how to develop ongoing teaching and research programs one these indentured workers, and finally how these indentured workers musical instruments music contributed to jazz.

This was a very informative 50 page graphic history provides a new perspective on how history from below can be taught.

[Michael Daines · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5)

This is really four works jammed into a single publication. The graphic novel is informative but very light. Then there are three academic essays. The first provides more details about the Robert Bowne Mutiny. The second is pedagogical. And the last is an interesting exploration of Chinese immigration in post-Civil War New Orleans and their role in music and the development of Jazz and drum sets.

[BiblioBeruthiel · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I appreciate that this was a topic I knew nothing about and was interested to learn more, this is not actually a graphic novel.