The Postcolonial Female “Bildung” in Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes

Abstract

This article positions itself in the literary representations of the convergence of slavery, migration, race, gender, growth, and the African identity in a neo-slave narrative. It concerns itself with the examination of Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes as a female bildungsroman written from a postcolonial perspective. The novel centers on the growth and experiences of the female protagonist, Aminata Diallo, an African slave who eventually becomes a notable personality involved in the registration of the Black Loyalists on their passage to Nova Scotia (Canada) in the aftermath of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). In addition, she assists in the resettlement of the Loyalists in Sierra Leone and testifies in London on behalf of the abolitionists against the trans-Atlantic slave trade. As a result, this study highlights the intersection of history and literature in addition to the experiences of Africans in the diaspora who struggle with character development and identity in different societies.