Douglas R. Egerton is Joseph C. Georg Professor of History at Le Moyne College. His books include Year of Meteors: Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the Election that Brought on the Civil War.

• Prologue: The Trials of William Lee: A Life in the Age of Revolution ; One: Equiano's World: The British Atlantic Empire in 1763 ; Two: Richard's Cup: Slavery and the Coming of the Revolution ; Three: The Transformation of Colonel Tye: Black Combatants and the War ; Four: Quok Walker's Suit: Emancipation in the North ; Five: Absalom's "Meritorious Service": Antislavery in the Upper South ; Six: Captain Vesey's Cargo: Continuity in Georgia and the Carolinas ; Seven: Mum Bett Takes a Name: The Emergence of Free Black Communities ; Eight: Harry Washington's Atlantic Crossings: The Migrations of Black Loyalists ; Nine: A Suspicion Only: Racism in the Early Republic ; Ten: Eli Whitney's Cotton Engine: Expansion and Rebellion ; Epilogue: General Gabriel's Flag: Unsuccessful Coda to the Revolution ; Notes

The monumental accomplishments of Founding Fathers like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington seem trivial in comparison to what many of their African American contemporaries achieved. Seizing the unprecedented opportunities presented by the Revolutionary War, thousands of enslaved Americans - including slaves owned by Jefferson and Washington - made their own declarations of independence and undertook the arduous and perilous journey from slave to freedom. Now, for the first time, the scores of recent investigations of black participation in the American Revolution have been synthesized into an elegant and seamless narrative. In Death or Liberty - a title taken not from Patrick Henry but from a participant in Gabriel's Rebellion in 1800 -Douglas Egerton shows that African Americans not only extracted the most liberty from the Revolutionary experience but also paid the highest price for it.

Douglas R. Egerton is Joseph C. Georg Professor of History at Le Moyne College. His books include Year of Meteors: Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the Election that Brought on the Civil War.

• Prologue: The Trials of William Lee: A Life in the Age of Revolution ; One: Equiano's World: The British Atlantic Empire in 1763 ; Two: Richard's Cup: Slavery and the Coming of the Revolution ; Three: The Transformation of Colonel Tye: Black Combatants and the War ; Four: Quok Walker's Suit: Emancipation in the North ; Five: Absalom's "Meritorious Service": Antislavery in the Upper South ; Six: Captain Vesey's Cargo: Continuity in Georgia and the Carolinas ; Seven: Mum Bett Takes a Name: The Emergence of Free Black Communities ; Eight: Harry Washington's Atlantic Crossings: The Migrations of Black Loyalists ; Nine: A Suspicion Only: Racism in the Early Republic ; Ten: Eli Whitney's Cotton Engine: Expansion and Rebellion ; Epilogue: General Gabriel's Flag: Unsuccessful Coda to the Revolution ; Notes

The monumental accomplishments of Founding Fathers like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington seem trivial in comparison to what many of their African American contemporaries achieved. Seizing the unprecedented opportunities presented by the Revolutionary War, thousands of enslaved Americans - including slaves owned by Jefferson and Washington - made their own declarations of independence and undertook the arduous and perilous journey from slave to freedom. Now, for the first time, the scores of recent investigations of black participation in the American Revolution have been synthesized into an elegant and seamless narrative. In Death or Liberty - a title taken not from Patrick Henry but from a participant in Gabriel's Rebellion in 1800 -Douglas Egerton shows that African Americans not only extracted the most liberty from the Revolutionary experience but also paid the highest price for it.

Douglas R. Egerton is Joseph C. Georg Professor of History at Le Moyne College. His books include Year of Meteors: Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the Election that Brought on the Civil War.

• Prologue: The Trials of William Lee: A Life in the Age of Revolution ; One: Equiano's World: The British Atlantic Empire in 1763 ; Two: Richard's Cup: Slavery and the Coming of the Revolution ; Three: The Transformation of Colonel Tye: Black Combatants and the War ; Four: Quok Walker's Suit: Emancipation in the North ; Five: Absalom's "Meritorious Service": Antislavery in the Upper South ; Six: Captain Vesey's Cargo: Continuity in Georgia and the Carolinas ; Seven: Mum Bett Takes a Name: The Emergence of Free Black Communities ; Eight: Harry Washington's Atlantic Crossings: The Migrations of Black Loyalists ; Nine: A Suspicion Only: Racism in the Early Republic ; Ten: Eli Whitney's Cotton Engine: Expansion and Rebellion ; Epilogue: General Gabriel's Flag: Unsuccessful Coda to the Revolution ; Notes

The monumental accomplishments of Founding Fathers like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington seem trivial in comparison to what many of their African American contemporaries achieved. Seizing the unprecedented opportunities presented by the Revolutionary War, thousands of enslaved Americans - including slaves owned by Jefferson and Washington - made their own declarations of independence and undertook the arduous and perilous journey from slave to freedom. Now, for the first time, the scores of recent investigations of black participation in the American Revolution have been synthesized into an elegant and seamless narrative. In Death or Liberty - a title taken not from Patrick Henry but from a participant in Gabriel's Rebellion in 1800 -Douglas Egerton shows that African Americans not only extracted the most liberty from the Revolutionary experience but also paid the highest price for it.