Interviewees:
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Julie Golia
- Linda May Uris Director, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Library, New York Public Library
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Meredith Mann
- Interim Charles J. Liebman Curator of Manuscripts, New York Public Library
Slavery was embedded in New York's economy at every level—from large rural plantations upstate to a major slave auction site at the foot of Wall Street. The British pursued a strategy of offering freedom to enslaved people who left American enslavers, and during the occupation New York City became a nexus for Black Loyalists who had self-emancipated to serve the British army. At the war's end, these men and women faced terrifying uncertainty about whether Britain would honor its promises or return them to their former enslavers. Boston King—who had grown up enslaved in the American South, self-emancipated, served the British, and met his wife in New York—met the strict British criteria and was evacuated to Nova Scotia. But not everyone received that protection. King’s testimony captures the fear and confusion experienced by the city’s Black Loyalists in the wake of the Treaty of Paris.
