Blacks in Colonial America

During the American Revolution over 3,000 persons of African descent were promised freedom by the British if they would desert their American rebel masters and serve the loyalist cause. Those who responded to this promise found refuge in New York. In 1783, after Britain lost the war, they were evacuated to Nova Scotia, where for a decade they were treated as cheap labor by the white loyalists. In 1792 they were finally offered a new home in West Africa; over 1,200 responded and became the founders of Freetown in Sierra Leone. This is a history of Africans in colonial America, from the slaves who worked on the earliest plantations to the free blacks. It thoroughly discusses the circumstances of their arrival in the New World (blacks were treated far differently from white servants), and the living conditions of both slaves -- work, health care, food, housing, family life and other elements -- and free blacks.