Henry Washington
Henry Washington was a one time African American slave of the first president of the United States, George Washington. His history and linked documents can be found on-line [1]
Contents |
[edit] Early life
He was a saltwater slave from Africa purchased from a deceased estate in 1763 to be part of Washington's workforce in the Great Dismal Swamp. He later went to work at one of the farms at Mt Vernon.[2] He twice ran away from Mt Vernon first in July 1771 but was recovered,[3]
[edit] American War of Independence
He ran away again in July 1776 when he joined British forces under the Governor of Virginia Lord Dunmore's fleet. Harry Washington was a Black Loyalist and one of the 3,000 Black Americans who were evacuated to Nova Scotia at the end of the American War of Independence and part of the first group of immigrants to what eventually became Sierra Leone. He is listed as leaving New York the Book of Negroes, where he is incorrectly listed with the name Henry. He is called Harry in all other documents. [4]
[edit] Later life
After spending a number of years in Birchtown (the largest free African American city in North America), where he married Jenny, Washington and his wife joined the 1,192 black colonists who migrated to Sierra Leone.[5] Washington was one of those involved in a rebellion against the colonial authorities in Sierra Leone in 1800 and was exiled to the Bullom Shore where he subsequently died.[6] His descendants and those of other African Americans make up a portion of the Sierra Leone Creole people.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.blackloyalist.info
- ^ Papers of George Washington: Colonial Series, vol 7, pp 300, 314-15, 442-3, 516
- ^ Diaries of George Washington vol 3, p 45.
- ^ http://www.blackloyalist.info/sourcedetail/display/15
- ^ List of Blacks who gave their name for Sierra Leone" in National Archives of the UK, CO217/63
- ^ Cassandra Pybus, "Washington's Revolution, Harry that is not George" Journal of Atlantic Studies, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2006, 183-198.
- Cassandra Pybus, pic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway Slaves of the American Revolution and Their Global Quest for Liberty, Beacon Press, 2006
- http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/05/08/060508crat_atlarge
- http://books.google.com/books?id=6qJ71dqsmboC&pg=PA98&dq=virginia+blacks+freetown&sig=oROaLz33TNPFyyYwJ-lCg3blX-0
- Epic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway Slaves of the American Revolution and Their Global Quest for Liberty, a Talk by Cassandra Pybus
- http://www.blackcommentator.com/washingtons_slaves.html
- http://www.ns1763.ca/shelbco/birchtown.html
- Hanging Captain Gordon: The Life and Trial of an American Slave Trader
- The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History: Volume 2: Continental America, 1800-1867
- http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/washington-henry-ca-1740-post-1801
 |
This African American-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
  |
This Sierra Leonean biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
