From Slavery to Freetown

Mary Louise Clifford became interested in the first settlers of Freetown while living in Hill Station while her husband served as UN economic advisor to the prime minister of Sierra Leone. She has also written works on Liberia, Afghanistan, Malaysia, and the Arabian Peninsula. She lives in Venice, Florida.

• Table of ContentsIntroduction      Part I. The War for Independence1. Mary Perth of Norfolk, Virginia      2. Moses Wilkinson of Nansemond County, Virginia      3. David George of Essex County, Virginia      4. Four Men from Charleston: Boston King, IsaacAnderson, Cato Perkins, and John Kizell      5. Thomas Peters of Wilmington, North Carolina      6. Refuge in British New York      7. Peace Treaty Terms      8. Evacuation from New York      Part II. Nova Scotia9. The Founding of Birchtown      10. Education Mattered      11. Black Preachers Offer Hope      12. Farms for White Loyalists      13. Thomas Peters in Annapolis County      Part III. The Province of Freedom14. Refuge in London      15. The Founding of Granville Town      16. Thomas Peters Travels to London      17. An Emissary from the Sierra Leone Company      18. Bonds Forged in Nova Scotia Congregations      19. Still Searching for Freedom and Security      Part IV. Freetown20. Plans to Govern Freetown      21. To the Cotton Tree      22. An Erratic Beginning      23. Continuing Confusion      24. Ill Will Between John Clarkson and Thomas Peters      25. Baptists and Methodists Follow Different Paths      26. The Calypso Passengers Interrupt      27. New Company Officials      28. Land Grants at Last      29. Angry Settlers Choose Emissaries to the Sierra Leone Company Directors      30. Two Governors: Richard Dawes and Zachary Macaulay      31. A Chosen People      32. The Outside World Intrudes      33. Mary Perth as Housekeeper      34. Quarrels Over Religion      35. Growing Prosperity      36. Insurrection and Defeat      37. Transition      38. The Crown Replaces the Sierra Leone Company      39. Farewell, Cotton Tree      Epilogue      Appendix: Roster of Prominent Emigrants to Freetown      Notes      Bibliography      Index

“an important contribution...Clifford has uncovered a fascinating and underrepresented aspect of the black diaspora”—Library Journal; “a significant story movingly told”—Daily Press; “draws on a variety of sources, including memoirs of some of the settlers, diaries of the British in Sierra Leone, and official records in London and Halifax”—The Virginia Gazette.