From Slavery to Freetown: Black Loyalists After the American Revolution

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McFarland, Jan 24, 2006 - Social Science - 259 pages

During the American Revolution over 3,000 persons of African descent were promised freedom by the British if they would desert their American rebel masters and serve the loyalist cause. Those who responded to this promise found refuge in New York. In 1783, after Britain lost the war, they were evacuated to Nova Scotia, where for a decade they were treated as cheap labor by the white loyalists. In 1792 they were finally offered a new home in West Africa; over 1,200 responded and became the founders of Freetown in Sierra Leone.

This history follows ten of these freed slaves from their escape from masters in Virginia and the Carolinas to their sojourn in wartime New York, their evacuation to Nova Scotia and finally their exodus to Freetown, where they struggled for another decade for not only freedom and dignity but the right to worship as they choose, make an honest living, and govern themselves.

 

Contents

Introduction
1
The War for Independence
7
Part II Nova Scotia
41
Part III The Province of Freedom
65
Part IV Freetown
103
Epilogue
214
Roster of Prominent Emigrants to Freetown
217
Notes
223
Bibliography
239
Index
243
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About the author (2006)

Mary Louise Clifford became interested in the first settlers of Freetown while living in Hill Station while her husband served as UN economic advisor to the prime minister of Sierra Leone. She has also written works on Liberia, Afghanistan, Malaysia, and the Arabian Peninsula. She lives in Venice, Florida.

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