Maya Jasanoff, a Harvard history professor and author, joins the discussion to explore the role of enslaved individuals during the American War of Independence. She delves into their motivations, revealing many fought for the British in hopes of freedom. The conversation uncovers the harsh realities faced by black Loyalists post-war, emphasizing the broken promises of a new life in places like Canada. Maya also highlights the complex links between colonialism, slavery, and the fight for liberty, making the historical narrative both poignant and revealing.
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insights INSIGHT
Interconnected Americas
18th-century North America and the Caribbean were one interconnected economic zone.
European powers, mainly Britain and France, competed for control of this lucrative region, driven by plantation economies and slave labor.
insights INSIGHT
Unlikely Allies
The American Revolution united disparate groups, like New England intellectuals and Southern planters, against British rule.
These groups, despite different economic interests, found common ground in opposing taxation without representation.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Tea Act & Bengal Famine
Colonists in Massachusetts feared the East India Company's potential influence, paralleling concerns about the company's actions in Bengal.
The Boston Tea Party, partly fueled by smugglers, aimed to circumvent the Tea Act, which mandated tea purchases from East India Company merchants.
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In 'Edge of Empire', Maya Jasanoff explores the British Empire's expansion in India and Egypt from 1750 to 1850 by focusing on the lives of collectors who lived on its frontiers. The book delves into how these individuals used collecting to forge their identities and navigate cross-cultural interactions, revealing the complexities of imperial power and culture. Jasanoff's narrative offers a nuanced view of empire, highlighting both the grand narratives of conquest and the personal stories of those involved.
Liberty's exiles
American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World
Maya Jasanoff
This book tells the story of the sixty thousand Americans loyal to the British cause who fled the United States at the end of the American Revolution. Through detailed individual and family narratives, Maya Jasanoff traces the extraordinary journeys of these refugees as they settled in Canada, the Caribbean, Sierra Leone, and other parts of the British Empire. The book highlights the experiences of individuals such as Elizabeth Johnston, David George, and Joseph Brant, and provides a provocative analysis that reevaluates the legacies of the revolution's 'losers'. Jasanoff's work combines broad global surveys with intimate narrative history, offering a new perspective on the founding of the United States and the post-revolutionary world[1][3][4].
The Boston Tea Party has occurred. War has broken out on the American continent. The British need to bolster their forces to keep hold of the 13 colonies, but to whom do they turn? Their own slaves. Listen as William and Anita are joined by Maya Jasanoff to discuss the slaves who fought for the British in the America War of Independence and how they were rewarded afterwards.
Empire 
