Hey! I agree that the revolution exposed some deep contradictions between slavery and liberty, but I think some context is missing here. I would not call Dunmore’s Proclamation an emancipation proclamation in the same sense as Lincoln’s. Remember it only offered freedom to enslaved people owned by the Patriot enslavers who escaped and supported the British; it wasn’t a broad emancipation measure like Lincoln’s proclamation. Philipsburg is a better comparison, but it was still a strategy aimed at weakening the rebellion rather than a broader emancipation policy. Also, referring to the Underground Railroad in the Revolutionary era is inaccurate. There was no Underground Railroad in the 18th century. It was developed in the 19th century when enslaved people were escaping from slave states to free states and Canada. At the time of Philipsburg in 1779, slavery was still legal in nearly all states.
I love this. One of my academic advisors when I was an undergraduate was from Freetown, Sierra Leone. Her African ancestors who fought on the side of the British during the American Revolutionary War were repatriated to Nova Scotia, then to Sierra Leone in West Africa. And since she had returned to teach in the USA, we nicknamed her “Roots in Reverse.”
One more thing. Cambridge University in Cambridge England teaches Afro-American Southern History. And my professor from Sierra Leone said that when American Soul Singer Otis Redding was killed in a plane crash, Sierra Leone natives wore black armbands for a year in mourning of his death.
Hey! I agree that the revolution exposed some deep contradictions between slavery and liberty, but I think some context is missing here. I would not call Dunmore’s Proclamation an emancipation proclamation in the same sense as Lincoln’s. Remember it only offered freedom to enslaved people owned by the Patriot enslavers who escaped and supported the British; it wasn’t a broad emancipation measure like Lincoln’s proclamation. Philipsburg is a better comparison, but it was still a strategy aimed at weakening the rebellion rather than a broader emancipation policy. Also, referring to the Underground Railroad in the Revolutionary era is inaccurate. There was no Underground Railroad in the 18th century. It was developed in the 19th century when enslaved people were escaping from slave states to free states and Canada. At the time of Philipsburg in 1779, slavery was still legal in nearly all states.
That essay should take uppity white people down a peg or two. Happy the day after non-independence day.
I love this. One of my academic advisors when I was an undergraduate was from Freetown, Sierra Leone. Her African ancestors who fought on the side of the British during the American Revolutionary War were repatriated to Nova Scotia, then to Sierra Leone in West Africa. And since she had returned to teach in the USA, we nicknamed her “Roots in Reverse.”
That is amazing! Wow.
One more thing. Cambridge University in Cambridge England teaches Afro-American Southern History. And my professor from Sierra Leone said that when American Soul Singer Otis Redding was killed in a plane crash, Sierra Leone natives wore black armbands for a year in mourning of his death.