Archive of The Fearless Benjamin Lay

Marcus Rediker on the life of Quaker abolitionist Benjamin Lay and the methods of "history from below." 

In 1738, radical abolitionist and Quaker dwarf Benjamin Lay was disowned by the Quaker community. He was well known for his uncompromising and confrontational stance against slavery and his commitment to convince his fellow Quakers to completely denounce and abolish it. Nearly three hundred years later, history is finally looking up for Lay.

In an interview pegged to the new French edition of Outlaws of the Atlantic, Marcus Rediker discusses his background and the paths that led him to study sailors and pirates.