Rough Crossings (2005)

Really interesting history of African-Americans (and some Africans as well) who escaped slavery during/because of the American Revolution—some of them escaping from men who signed the Declaration of Independence. Schama follows them to Canada and Sierra Leone, where they rarely got what they were promised from the British but never stopped seeking freedom and security. ( )

This book is absolutely brilliant. It is well researched, documented, and tied the British and American interests in the cruel practice of slavery. Schama is one of our premier American writers. It is unusual thaat Rough Crossings and "Bury the Chains" by Adam Hochschild are similar subject matter and published in 2006. The writers are two of my favorite and they document a very difficult time of American history. ( )

This book’s account about the role of slaves in the Revolutionary War apparently offers a surprise to many American readers as Simon Schama details the mass flight of the Southern States escaped and freed slaves to fight the revolutionaries on the English side. This historical fact was so little known it was called the “dirty little secret” of the war. The work continues the story of those slaves through to their escape to hardship in Acadia, New Foundland, Nova Scotia and even England, and describes the fate for many of ultimate betrayal, along with many thousands of white “Royalists”, who also choose to fight on the losing side.
Schama, as usual in his excellent works, offers the reader a gripping view of history, and he brings the account up into the period of the politics of Wilberforce and the English “Abolition Movement”, the and eventual emancipation. His account of the corrupted ideals and confusions of the attempted creation of new lands in Africa is fascinating, giving new details of the founding of the colony of Sierra Leone. Further betrayals awaited many of the original African settlers, even to kidnap and re-sale back into the West Indies slave trade.

A sad and important story.

Very sad, a bit hard-going at times but well written and interesting. ( )

If you want to know about slavery and the revolutionary war this is the book for you. Emotional feelings run through out this narrative. Makes one aware of the importance of the African race in this country's struggle for self rule. ( )