Epic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway Slaves of the American Revolution And Their Global Quest for Liberty - Hardcover

Pybus, Cassandra

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080705514X ISBN 13: 9780807055144

Publisher: Beacon Pr, 2006

Synopsis

During the American Revolution, thousands of slaves fled their masters to find freedom with the British. Having emancipated themselves—and with the rhetoric about the inalienable rights of free men ringing in their ears—these men and women struggled tenaciously to make liberty a reality in their own lives.

This alternative narrative of freedom fought for and won traces the stories of dozens of individuals—including Harry, one of George Washington’s slaves—who left America and forged difficult new lives in far-flung corners of the British Empire. The challenges these newly freed black people faced in London in the 1780s have been virtually unrecognized by history, as has the path that some individuals were forced to take in two bizarre colonial experiments in 1787 in Sierra Leone, Africa, and Botany Bay, Australia. This pathbreaking work, engagingly written in the best tradition of history from the bottom up, will alter how you think about the American Revolution.

“Just amazing. What a gripping narrative. Epic Journeys of Freedom is a truly heroic story of the exodus of runaway slaves that covers four continents: North America, England, Africa, and Australia. And Pybus has such command of the sources. An awesome achievement.” —Alfred F. Young, author of The Shoemaker and the Tea Party: Memory and the American Revolution

About this title

Review:

"An impressive and extremely important work." -Library Journal, starred review "A significant contribution to contemporary studies of the Black Atlantic." -Publishers Weekly "What a gripping narrative . . . [and] an awesome achievement." -Alfred F. Young, author of The Shoemaker and the Tea Party

"A significant contribution to contemporary studies of the Black Atlantic."

"What Pybus offers is a collective biography, made possible through her painstaking--breathtaking--examination . . . rich and wonderful." --Jill Lepore

"This gripping and enlightening book . . . İis¨ an impressive and extremely important work. Readers will obtain a much greater understanding of an aspect of the American Revolution that finally gets some much-deserved scholarship."

" A significant contribution to contemporary studies of the Black Atlantic."

" This gripping and enlightening book . . . [is] an impressive and extremely important work. Readers will obtain a much greater understanding of an aspect of the American Revolution that finally gets some much-deserved scholarship."

" What Pybus offers is a collective biography, made possible through her painstaking— breathtaking— examination . . . rich and wonderful." — Jill Lepore

& quot; A significant contribution to contemporary studies of the Black Atlantic.& quot;

& quot; What Pybus offers is a collective biography, made possible through her painstaking& mdash; breathtaking& mdash; examination . . . rich and wonderful.& quot; & mdash; Jill Lepore

& quot; This gripping and enlightening book . . . [is] an impressive and extremely important work. Readers will obtain a much greater understanding of an aspect of the American Revolution that finally gets some much-deserved scholarship.& quot;

About the Author:

Cassandra Pybus holds the Australian Research Council Chair of History at the University of Tasmania. An award-winning author who has written ten books, she is a frequent Fulbright professor and international fellow at American universities.

About this edition

• Publisher: Beacon Pr
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 080705514X
• ISBN 13: 9780807055144
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 281