The Escapes of David George: An Odyssey of Slavery, Freedom, and the American Revolution [Hardcover]

Gregory E. OMalleysThe Escapes of David Georgeis a gripping, novelistic study of the remarkable man whose life forces all of us to reexamine the realities of colonial slavery and the conflicted legacies of the American Revolution. --Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

remarkable ... intriguing ... an inspiring portrait of an enslaved man --The Wall Street Journal

When most Americans think of slavery, they do not picture the colonial or revolutionary eras. Yet, in fact, one of six inhabitants of the thirteen original colonies was enslaved.The Escapes of David George: an Odyssey of Slavery, Freedom, and the American Revolutionreveals a remarkable, untold experience of the American revolutionary perioda Black mans quest for the freedom espoused by our Founders, but denied him and other enslaved people.

In 1762, at the age of 19, David George escaped from a plantation in Virginia. Running southwest by night, fording rivers and crossing borders, he embarked on a decades-long journey in and out of captivity that spanned multiple colonies and thousands of miles. George lived among White, Black, Creek, and Natchez settlements, fled to the British Army for the promise of liberty, founded what might have been the first Black Baptist church, helped to hack a settlement for refugees out of the Nova Scotia wilderness, and died as a leader of an experimental anti-slavery community in Sierra Leone.

Piecing together archival records and David Georges own brief account of his lifethe earliest written testimony by a fugitive enslaved person in North AmericaGregory OMalley presents a thrilling narrative and a unique perspective on our nations origins, principles, and contradictions.