This week’s Sunday Smack inspiration comes from reading Eric Foner’s Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad, where I was reminded of how the British promised Africans enslaved in America their freedom in return for fighting against George Washington’s patriots during America’s war for independence.
That would mean any slave who fought against America — regardless of the slave’s distaste for bondage — would be guilty of treason, correct?
Probably not, if you buy the argument that African slaves in America were viewed more more like expensive working pets than human beings, let alone American citizens. But that line of reasoning didn’t stop patriots from charging and even executing slaves suspected of being Tories.
So, here’s my Sunday Smack:
If you were a slave during the Revolutionary War, would you fight for American freedom, or would you commit treason?
song currently stuck in my head: “juba dance” Bobby Hutcherson
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