Rough Crossings

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Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution
Author	Simon Schama
Language	English
Genre(s)	History
Publisher	BBC Books
Publication date	2005
Media type	Print (book)
Pages	445
ISBN	ISBN 0-06-053916-X

Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution is a history book and television series by Simon Schama.

This gives an account of the history of thousands of enslaved African Americans who escaped to the British cause during the American War of Independence. It tells of the legal battles in England that established that slavery was not legally valid in England itself, how the British government offered freedom to enslaved African Americans if they would fight for the king. Also the book discusses the many ambiguities involved - some loyalists were slave-owners, some blacks were recruited for the War of Independence.

The book then follows the fate of these African Americans: the original group who settled Sierra Leone from London, those who were sent to Nova Scotia and were treated unfairly there, and how some then settled in what was to become Sierra Leone. The descendants of those who settled in Freetown, Sierra Leone are known as the Sierra Leone Creole people. They have strong ancestral ties with mainly the United States, Caribbean, and Canada.