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Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution
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Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution Paperback - 2007

by Simon Schama

Tens of thousands of blacks in America at the start of the Revolutionary War escaped from farms, plantations, and cities to reach the British who offered the promise of emancipation in return for military service. Schama follows their odyssey through the war and into inhospitable Nova Scotia where thousands were betrayed.


From the publisher

“The most dramatic account so far of the extraordinary expeience of slaves in and after the American Revolution. . . . Schama's gift for plunging us into the very center of the action makes reading an exhilarating and often moving experience.”--Daily Telegraph

If you were black in America at the start of the Revolutionary War, whom would you want to win? In response to a declaration by the last governor of Virginia that any rebel-owned slave who escaped and served the King would be emancpated, tens of thousands of blacks voted with feet, escaping to fight beside the British. Originally designed to break the plantations of the American South, this military strategy instead unleashed one of the great exoduses in American history.

Told in the voices of the slaves and the white abolitionists who aided them, Simon Schama vividly details the odyssey of these escaped blacks, shedding light on an extraordinary chapter in America's birth.

From the rear cover

If you were black in America at the start of the Revolutionary War, which side would you want to win?

When the last British governor of Virginia declared that any rebel-owned slave who escaped and served the king would be emancipated, tens of thousands of slaves fled from farms, plantations, and cities to try to reach the British camp. A military strategy originally designed to break the plantations of the American South had unleashed one of the great exoduses in U.S. history. With powerfully vivid storytelling, Schama details the odyssey of the escaped blacks through the fires of war and the terror of potential recapture, shedding light on an extraordinary, little-known chapter in the dark saga of American slavery.

Details

  • Title Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution
  • Author Simon Schama
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 512
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Ecco Press, New York
  • Date May 1, 2007
  • Illustrated Yes
  • ISBN 9780060539177 / 0060539178
  • Weight 1.38 lbs (0.63 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.58 x 5.6 x 1.32 in (21.79 x 14.22 x 3.35 cm)
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 18th Century
    • Chronological Period: 21st Century
    • Cultural Region: British
    • Ethnic Orientation: African American
    • Topical: Black History
  • Dewey Decimal Code 326.097

Media reviews

Citations

  • New York Times, 06/17/2007, Page 24
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Rough Crossings: The Slaves, the British, and the American Revolution
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