On today’s show, host Dana Pellebon discusses the history of maroonage in the Black diaspora with Amari Johnson, author of the new book, Under a Black Star: The Maroon Impulse in New Orleans. Maroons were enslaved Africans in the Americas who escaped the plantation system to make their own way. Johnson was inspired by the maroon communities of Jamaica and Brazil but also wanted to understand what happened to the “maroon impulse” after chattel slavery ended. He found contemporary resonances in the Algiers parish of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Featured image of the cover of Under a Black Star.