By Emily Zobel Marshall
"Cunning better than strong” is a Jamaican proverb; a message of survival and resistance that urges us to use our brain rather than our brawn to overcome oppressors encapsulated by the Jamaican trickster folk hero Anansi.
Anansi is of West African origin and became central to the oral tradition of the enslaved in the Caribbean. When caught in a terrible situation, Anansi would find his way out through intelligence, disguise, subterfuge, and wit.
These tactics of survival and resistance were also used by Black abolitionists Ellen and William Craft and Henry “Box” Brown. Disguise and performance were central to their escape from enslavement, political activism, and appeal to white audiences.
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