The escapes of David George : an odyssey of slavery, freedom, and the American Revolution / Gregory E. O'Malley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Malley, Gregory E., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

George, David, 1743-1810.

George, David.

Enslaved persons--United States--Biography.

Enslaved persons.

Fugitive slaves--United States--Biography.

Fugitive slaves.

Slavery--United States--History--18th century.

Slavery.

African American loyalists--Biography.

African American loyalists.

African American Baptists--Clergy--Biography.

African American Baptists.

Black people--Nova Scotia--Biography.

Black people.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xx, 294 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Odyssey of slavery, freedom, and the American Revolution

Place of Publication:

New York : St. Martin's Press, 2026.

Summary:

"By a prize-winning historian: The dramatic story of a Black man's relentless search for freedom in Revolutionary-era America When most Americans think of slavery, they do not picture the colonial or revolutionary eras. Yet, in fact, one of six inhabitants of the thirteen original colonies was enslaved. The Escapes of David George: an Odyssey of Slavery, Freedom, and the American Revolution reveals a remarkable, untold experience of the American revolutionary period--a Black man's quest for the freedom espoused by our Founders, but denied him and other enslaved people. In 1762, at the age of 19, David George escaped from a plantation in Virginia. Running southwest by night, fording rivers and crossing borders, he embarked on a decades-long journey in and out of captivity that spanned multiple colonies and thousands of miles. George lived among White, Black, Creek, and Natchez settlements, fled to the British Army for the promise of liberty, founded what might have been the first Black Baptist church, helped to hack a settlement for refugees out of the Nova Scotia wilderness, and died as a leader of an experimental anti-slavery community in Sierra Leone. Piecing together archival records and David George's own brief account of his life--the earliest written testimony by a fugitive enslaved person in North America--Gregory O'Malley presents a thrilling narrative and a unique perspective on our nation's origins, principles, and contradictions"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Escaping Virginia

Escaping to (and from) the Muscogee Creeks

Escaping this world

The American Revolution

Freedom?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [243]-276) and index.

ISBN:

9781250364234

125036423X

OCLC:

1513897019