rohnahein

Before the first shots were fired in Concord by rebel colonists and British troops, Lord Dunmore dangled a carrot to the enslaved of Virginia offering them freedom from slavery in exchange for loyalty to the King of England. Dunmore explicitly declared all enslaved people owned by Patriot masters “free” if they joined British forces. This was the first official governmental offer of emancipation in the colonies. What may seem like an obvious choice did not strike most enslaved people so...

Black enslaved people had a completely different attitude to the word freedom than their white masters. Since 1619, the number of Africans who were kidnapped and brought to the American colonies had swelled to over half a million men, women, and children. For the enslaved, the lack of freedom was all they knew. Some free Blacks lived in larger cities, but they were the rarity. Enslaved Blacks could hardly understand the difference that separated these free walking individuals. Being a free...

Communication between those being enslaved on one plantation to the next was remarkedly fast and accurate. Enslaved people developed a trusty and vigorous regional communication network that surprised many of their masters. Using different methods depending on the local environment, the enslaved discovered local news and events as fast as white settlers not on plantations. Overheard conversations in the big house were the number one source of new information. House servants and valets did not...