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Juneteenth and Other Lesser Known African-American Historical Culture

Khalid Elhassan June 15, 2020 34 min

Colonel Tye - American Revolutionary War — Colonel Tye as portrayed in a PBS documentary. PBS

23. Fighting For Freedom Against The Land of Liberty

When Virginia’s British governor issued a proclamation in November, 1775, offering freedom to slaves in exchange for service to the Crown, the response was overwhelming. Within weeks, hundreds of slaves escaped their American owners and joined his troops in Norfolk. Hundreds more arrived each week, and as the number of runaways steadily grew, so did the fear and ire of American slave owners.

Lord Dunmore’s proclamation did not win him or the British many hearts and minds amongst colonial whites. However, it won the hearts and minds of many black colonials. It also helped alleviate a severe manpower shortage that had confronted the British in Virginia, by increasing their manpower, while simultaneously reducing the manpower available to rebellious colonists.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.