hist.g5.f.his.dunmore_proclamation_black_loyalists_patriots
Analyze Dunmore's Proclamation (1775) and the Book of Negroes (1783) — Black wartime mobility and choice during the Revolution
Conduct close-reading work on (a) Lord Dunmore's Proclamation November 7 1775 — text: 'I do hereby further declare all indented Servants, Negroes, or others (appertaining to Rebels) free, that are able and willing to bear Arms, they joining His Majesty's Troops, as soon as may be...'; (b) the formation of the Ethiopian Regiment of British forces (~800-2000 enslaved African Americans fled to British lines in Virginia 1775-1776 alone); (c) the broader pattern of Black wartime mobility — ~20,000+ enslaved African Americans fled to the British side over the course of the war seeking freedom; (d) the Book of Negroes 1783 — the ledger of 3,000+ Black Loyalists evacuated from New York to Nova Scotia by the British under General Carlisle, in violation of the Treaty of Paris provision returning 'property' to American owners (the British honored their freedom commitment in part); (e) the Black Loyalist settlement at Birchtown Nova Scotia (today preserved by the Black Loyalist Heritage Centre Birchtown NS — descendant community center); (f) the Black Patriot side: 1st Rhode Island Regiment which was 1/3 Black and Indigenous; ~5,000+ Black soldiers in Continental Army; Salem Poor and Peter Salem at Bunker Hill 1775; James Forten as powder boy 1781; Lemuel Haynes marched on Lexington/Concord 1775 then later became the first African American ordained Christian minister in the US. Apply MG-7 routine. CRITICAL: this lesson is taught with MANDATORY MG-15 trauma-informed protocol because both choices (flee to British / fight for Continental Army) were choices made by enslaved African Americans in the context of slavery — their agency is the central focus, not 'which side was right.'
- Analyze the American Revolution (1775-1783) from multiple perspectives — Patriots, Loyalists, ~5,000+ Black soldiers on the Patriot side, ~20,000+ enslaved African Americans fleeing to the British under Dunmore's Proclamation, Indigenous nations split, French alliance
- Center African and African American voice, resistance, humanity, and community-building in colonial America — Equiano, Wheatley, Felix Holbrook, Belinda Sutton, Stono Rebellion, the African American family
- Believing Black soldiers all fought on the Patriot side — ~5,000+ on Patriot side AND ~20,000+ on British side; the Revolution was a wartime moment of Black mobility and choice.
- Treating Black Loyalists as 'traitors' — they made a different choice for understandable reasons; many ended up in Sierra Leone (1792 Black Loyalist resettlement) as founders of Freetown.
- Missing Dunmore's Proclamation as a primary source — it is rarely taught in elementary US history but is foundational for understanding Black wartime choice.
- Forgetting that the Treaty of Paris 1783 returned the Mississippi western boundary AND that the British honored their freedom commitment to Black Loyalists IN PART by evacuating 3,000+ to Nova Scotia (the Book of Negroes ledger).