Our January speaker was Jacqui C. Williams, Founding Director of  "Fill in the Blanks in American History." Her talk focused on the  story of black people during the American Revolution. (For the  benefit of those of you with a contemporary American education, that  was 1775-83. We fought the British. Beat 'em, too.)

Ms. Williams started by explaining that family history had always  been strongly emphasized by her own forebears. In studying history  herself, she would ask, "where are the black people?" and would be  "peeking around the corner" of conventional history.

At the time of the Revolution, the estimated slave population was  about half a million, or about 20% of the total. About 20% of those  slaves escaped, died, or were killed in the course of the war. About  5,000 of them fought on the side of the colonists; at least 10,000  for the bad guys. This was because the British made a point of  recruiting them; General Henry Clinton's Phillipsburg Proclamation  promised protection and shelter for absconding slaves, as well as  ultimate freedom. This not only augmented the British forces, but  also was a form of economic warfare, since separating slaves from  their masters created a bit of an inconvenience for the latter. Recruits for one "Ethiopian Regiment" raised in Virginia by Lord  Dunsmore were given uniforms emblazoned with the slogan "Liberty to  Slaves" on their chests. The mortality rate among such soldiers was  high. The British often used them, essentially, as cannon fodder, and  the colonists considered such black troops to be favored targets.  (The slogan display also got them banned from Crossgates Mall.) At war's end, it was agreed that British troops would be allowed to  go home--but the Americans wanted the return of any property the  British had seized. This included the blacks, presenting a difficult  issue. It was resolved by a compromise allowing release of any black  who could document formal service to the British war effort. Several  thousand qualified and were enrolled in a "Book of Negroes." They  could go to the West Indies (bad choice), or Britain, or Canada. Many  of them, especially those shipping to the West Indies, wound up re-  enslaved.

Ms. Williams related the story of one such victim, Mary Postell.  Indeed, quite a few women as well as men tried to take advantage of  the British offer. Mary was a South Carolina slave who worked for the  Brits and was granted the requisite certificate to ship out, with her  family, after the war. But her papers were lifted before she could  get on a ship. She proceeded instead to Florida, then controlled by  Spain, where she and her children got grabbed as slaves. They were  taken to Nova Scotia, where she sought recourse in court, producing  witnesses of her war work. Nevertheless, the court ruled in favor of  her captors. Her children were sold away from her.