An uplifting work of black history in the context of the American War for Independence.

Although Africans and African Americans have been left out of most accounts of the Revolutionary years, this book pieces together their emerging path toward freedom. From Britain came the Great Awakening, the advent of evangelism in America, which would provide slaves with hope for future freedom. In 1775, black emancipation commenced in Chesapeake Bay with Lord Dunmore’s proclamation and the resulting fleet, which attracted blacks, creating the first mass emancipation of slaves in British colonial history. At the end of the War for Independence, the British evacuations of loyal subjects from 1782 to 1785 were the turning point in the Emancipation Revolution. A majority of free and enslaved blacks would remain where the Royal Navy transports landed them in Jamaica, the Bahamas, Nova Scotia, or Britain. Blacks’ love of freedom is concluded with the abolition of the slave trade throughout the British Empire.

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• PART 1: THE OLD REGIME OF PLANTATION SLAVERY
  • Chapter 1 Slave Trade in British and American Ports
  • Chapter 2 The Rise of American Plantation Slavery
  • Chapter 3 Fear of Slave Insurrection
  • Chapter 4 Fear of Blacks becoming Christians
• PART 2: BRITAIN AS THE PROMISED LAND
  • Chapter 5 A Free Environment
  • Chapter 6 British Law, Benevolence and Religious Toleration
• PART 3: OPPORTUNITIES IN THE ROYAL NAVY
  • Chapter 7 Navy Recruiting on Land and Sea
  • Chapter 8 Advantages for Blacks in the Royal Navy
  • Chapter 9 Protecting Free Seamen
  • Chapter 10 Other Related Employment
• PART 4: EMANCIPATION COMMENCES
  • Chapter 11 Dunmore Sets the Bar for Slave Emancipation
  • Chapter 12 Planters Fear their Slaves will oppose the Rebellion
  • Chapter 13 British Military Policy towards Slaves
• PART 5: THE BRITISH MILITARY VIES FOR BLACK SUPPORT
  • Chapter 14 To Disappear on a Privateer
  • Chapter 15 Loyalist Provincial Units
  • Chapter 16 Effective Irregulars
  • Chapter 17 Blacks in British Savannah and Charleston
  • Chapter 18 Blacks in British New York
• PART 6: THE GROWTH OF BRITISH COMPASSION
  • Chapter 19 Evangelists and Anti-Slavery in the Royal Navy
  • Chapter 20 Accepting the Burden of Black Families
  • Chapter 21 Methodism Undermines the New Governments
• PART 7: THE TURNING POINT: EVACUATION BECOMES MIGRATION
  • Chapter 22 American Slaveholders seek return of their Slaves
  • Chapter 23 Royal Navy Transports Carry Blacks Away
• PART 8: A NEW EMPIRE CONCEIVED WITHOUT SLAVES
  • Chapter 24 Continuing Black Migration to Britain and Africa
  • Chapter 25 Counter Revolution
  • Chapter 26 Philip Beaver at Bulama
  • Chapter 27 Towards Abolition of the Slave Trade
  • Chapter 28 American Epilogue
• Affirmations
• Notes
• Plate Sections 1
• Plate Sections 2