9781912702930
Distributed for University of London Press
Freedom Seekers
Escaping from Slavery in Restoration London
Freedom Seekers reveals the hidden stories of Britain’s enslaved people and their liberation.
This book brings the history of slavery in England to light, revealing the powerful untold stories of resistance by enslaved workers from Africa, South Asia, and First-Nations America forced to work in London as sailors and dockworkers, wet-nurses and washerwomen. Featuring a series of original case studies on those enslaved people who escaped captivity, this volume provides a rich source of information about slavery in eighteenth-century mainland Britain and the “freedom seekers” therein. Using maps, photographs, newspaper advertisements, and more, the book details escape routes, the networks of slaveholders, and the community of people of color across the London region.
Freedom Seekers demonstrates that not only were enslaved people present in Restoration London but that white Londoners were intimately involved in the construction of the system of racial slavery, a process traditionally regarded as happening in the colonies rather than the British Isles. Freedom Seekers is an utterly unmissable and important book that seeks to delve into Britain’s colonial past.
This book brings the history of slavery in England to light, revealing the powerful untold stories of resistance by enslaved workers from Africa, South Asia, and First-Nations America forced to work in London as sailors and dockworkers, wet-nurses and washerwomen. Featuring a series of original case studies on those enslaved people who escaped captivity, this volume provides a rich source of information about slavery in eighteenth-century mainland Britain and the “freedom seekers” therein. Using maps, photographs, newspaper advertisements, and more, the book details escape routes, the networks of slaveholders, and the community of people of color across the London region.
Freedom Seekers demonstrates that not only were enslaved people present in Restoration London but that white Londoners were intimately involved in the construction of the system of racial slavery, a process traditionally regarded as happening in the colonies rather than the British Isles. Freedom Seekers is an utterly unmissable and important book that seeks to delve into Britain’s colonial past.
260 pages | 20 color plates; 10 halftones; 5 maps, 3 tables | 6.14 x 9.21 | © 2021
Institute of Historical Research
History: British and Irish History
Reviews
Table of Contents
Prologue: Imagining Ben
1. Preface: Freedom-seekers in Restoration London
2. The black presence in London
3. London
4. Newspapers
5. London’s freedom-seekers
6. Jack: Boys
7. Francisco/Bugge: South Asians
8. “A black Girl” and “an Indian black girl”: Female freedom-seekers
9. Caesar: Country Marks
10. Benjamin: Branded
11. Pompey: Shackled
12. Quoshey: Escaping from ships and their captains
13. Goude: Thames-side maritime communities
14. Quamy: Mercants, bankers, printers and coffee houses
15. David Sugarr and Henry Mundy: Escaping from colonial planters in London
16. Calib and “a Madagascar Negro”: Freedom-seekers in the London suburbs and beyond
17. “A Black Boy”: London’s connected community of slave-ownership
18. Freedom seekers and the law in England’s American and Caribbean colonies
19. London precedents in New World contexts: the runaway advertisement in the colonies
Epilogue: King
1. Preface: Freedom-seekers in Restoration London
2. The black presence in London
3. London
4. Newspapers
5. London’s freedom-seekers
6. Jack: Boys
7. Francisco/Bugge: South Asians
8. “A black Girl” and “an Indian black girl”: Female freedom-seekers
9. Caesar: Country Marks
10. Benjamin: Branded
11. Pompey: Shackled
12. Quoshey: Escaping from ships and their captains
13. Goude: Thames-side maritime communities
14. Quamy: Mercants, bankers, printers and coffee houses
15. David Sugarr and Henry Mundy: Escaping from colonial planters in London
16. Calib and “a Madagascar Negro”: Freedom-seekers in the London suburbs and beyond
17. “A Black Boy”: London’s connected community of slave-ownership
18. Freedom seekers and the law in England’s American and Caribbean colonies
19. London precedents in New World contexts: the runaway advertisement in the colonies
Epilogue: King