A Lesson on Race

'Russell gives fascinating insight into the competing ways biblical texts were used during a key moment in Jamaican history and, through this lens, elegantly demonstrates the broader significance of this moment for discourse on race relations around the Atlantic and beyond.' Rachelle Gilmour, Bromby Associate Professor of Old Testament, Trinity College, Melbourne 'A fascinating and impeccably researched account of the use of the Bible in the 1865 rebellion at Morant Bay in Jamaica. Ironically, those struggling for black emancipation were divided by a common scripture and Russell shows how different social and political perspectives in the post-abolitionist movement were expressed through different biblical slogans. With the Bible still having significant political potency in certain parts of the world, Russell's analysis of biblical reception is important and timely.' Nathan MacDonald, University of Cambridge 'Russell's unrivalled command of the biblical material and many often-neglected primary sources related to the Morant Bay rebellion sets a high standard for further volumes in Cambridge's new series Histories of Slavery and its Global Legacies.' Jeremy Schipper, author of Denmark Vesey's Bible: The Thwarted Revolt That Put Slavery and Scripture on Trial