Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence
A history book that rereads the American Revolution from the perspective of Black freedom struggle. It treats independence and emancipation as two revolutions unfolding together.
Work Information
The Revolution is reread from the side of slavery and emancipation.
Alan Gilbert uncovers the role of Black soldiers and emancipation struggles, reshaping the standard story of the Revolution.
Book Information
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Published
- 2013-09-18
- Pages
- 386 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 22.86 x 15.24 x 2.29 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9780226101552
- ISBN-10
- 022610155X
- Price
- 3686 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/History/Americas/United States/Civil War/Abolition
We commonly think of the American Revolution as simply the war for independence from British colonial rule. But, of course, that independence actually applied to only a portion of the American population—African Americans would still be bound in slavery for nearly another century. Alan Gilbert asks us to rethink what we know about the Revolutionary War, to realize that while white Americans were fighting for their freedom, many black Americans were joining the British imperial forces to gain theirs. Further, a movement led by sailors—both black and white—pushed strongly for emancipation on the American side. There were actually two wars being waged at once: a political revolution for independence from Britain and a social revolution for emancipation and equality. Gilbert presents persuasive evidence that slavery could have been abolished during the Revolution itself if either side had fully pursued the military advantage of freeing slaves and pressing them into combat, and his extensive research also reveals that free blacks on both sides played a crucial and underappreciated role in the actual fighting. Black Patriots and Loyalists contends that the struggle for emancipation was not only basic to the Revolution itself, but was a rousing force that would inspire freedom movements like the abolition societies of the North and the black loyalist pilgrimages for freedom in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone.
Alan Gilbert is a John Evans Professor in the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. He is the author of Marx’s Politics: Communists and Citizens , Democratic Individuality , and Must Global Politics Constrain Democracy? He lives with his wife, Paula, and their son, Sage, in the mountains of Morrison, Colorado.
Reviews
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Five Stars
Good book
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Five Stars
Tremendous and detailed account, exemplifying how important details are often left out of the history books.
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Thought provoking book.
This book tells another view point to the war. It is thought provoking. Freedom for the slaves was an issue in the background of the conflict. For keen students of the period, it brings a whole new area for discussion into play. Enjoyable read, though heavy in parts.
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An Important Overview of the Role Blacks Played in the American Revolution
Alan Gilbert’s Black Patriots and Loyalists is the latest work to enrich our understanding of the role of enslaved Africans in the American Revolution. Far from being marginal participants in North America’s first civil war, blacks had a crucial role, comprising a larger component of both Patriot and Loyalist forces than previously recognized. In his introduction to Black Patriots and Loyalists, Gilbert lays out his intriguing argument that the War of Independence was actually two revolutions. The first revolution was undertaken to achieve political independence; the second revolution was fought to end slavery. While these two conflicts sometimes ran parallel to one another, they were also often at odds. Patriots who fought for political independence sometimes did so to oppose the abolition of slavery. Some of those who battled to defeat the cause of liberty did so to gain their own freedom from slavery. And it was the British rather than the American Patriots --Gilbert states emphatically-- who most advanced the cause of the “second revolution” for social equality. The second revolution got underway before the first. Caribbean slave rebellions began as early as 1761, 15 years before the Declaration of Independence. When a judge ruled that slavery was illegal in Great Britain in 1772, it sent shock waves across the empire. While it did not bring about abolition (that would not happen until 1807), the ruling gave the perception that the British Empire wanted to abolish slavery. This had two immediate consequences before the events of 1776. For some white colonists, slavery’s anticipated abolition was seen as another one of Britain’s many unfair impositions on her colonists. For enslaved Africans, the 1772 court decision demonstrated that Britain --rather than the Patriot cause-- was their best hope for liberty. When,on November 7, 1775, Virginia’s Governor Dunmore issued a proclamation offering freedom to any Patriot’s slave who sided with the crown, the rebels’ worst fears and the slaves’ greatest hopes were confirmed. Gilbert then outlines the course of the two American revolutions with startling statistics as well as detailed wartime experiences of both Black Patriots and Loyalists. Readers will learn of the exploits of the Black Pioneers, the Royal Ethiopian Regiment, and black guerrilla fighters as well as the First Rhode Island Regiment and the Bucks of Massachusetts. Thomas Peters, Colonel Tye, and David George are among the featured “black redcoats”, while Prince Dupleix of Connecticut and the three uncles and father of Rhode Island’s Elleanor Eldridge are spotlighted black Patriots. While Gilbert points out how blacks were exploited by both sides in the revolution, he also demonstrates the extent of British exertions after their defeat to protect free Black Loyalists from re-enslavement by the “liberated” citizens of the new United States. His careful study of the Book of Negroes is a great boon to anyone – scholar or loyalist descendant—interested in the black diaspora. Using it and other primary sources, Gilbert provides a conservative estimate of 12 to 15,000 free blacks that fled the United States with the Crown. Rather than ending the story of Black Patriots and Loyalists with the conclusion of the American Revolution, Gilbert recounts the impact these emancipated refugees had in Nova Scotia, Sierra Leone, the West Indies, and Great Britain – and demonstrates how the revolution affected abolition movements throughout Europe and North America after 1783. By the end of Black Patriots and Loyalists, Gilbert accomplishes his goals – to tell the history of the twin revolutions and to honour the efforts of blacks to free themselves. It is a fresh perspective that enriches the ever-growing historical tapestry of the loyalist era.
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2 Rebellions
This is a missing piece of the American Revolution. It begins with the British offer of freedom to slaves in exchange for participation in the Crown's army. Blacks joined in droves. At the decisive battle of Yorktown blacks fought for both sides. The result was mostly black bodies left on the battle field. What the slaves received from the English after the war was over is a commentary on two rebellions. One was a victory for white American patriots. The other was a disaster for slaves. After reading this story no American can think of the Revolution in the same light as we learned about it in school. Shame on American history as taught to us in our schools. But, then again, isn't that often the case?