Episode 144:
Edda Fields-Black (Carnegie Mellon University) on her work as an accomplished historian of West Africa, rice, and the African diaspora. She discusses the role of linguistics and fieldwork in her writing about rice farming in Guinea and then turns to her prize-winning book, Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War (Oxford University Press, 202[…]
Black News Edda Fields-Black (Carnegie Mellon University) on her work as an accomplished historian of West Africa, rice, and the African diaspora. She discusses the role of linguistics and fieldwork in her writing about rice farming in Guinea and then turns to her prize-winning book, Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War (Oxford University Press, 2024). Dr. Fields-Black reveals her powerful personal connection to the freedom seekers in the rice plantations of South Carolina. She describes the complex process of naming enslaved people through (underused) archival sources and sheds light on how exploitation of “Black rice” inspired enslaved people’s successful quest for freedom.
