To understand the ledger, you must understand the world in which it was written—a world where liberty was a word spoken loudly by men who owned slaves. The American Revolution was a rebellion wrapped in rhetoric, a fight for freedom built on the backs of the unfree.
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Image: Dunmore's Proclamation signed November 7, 1775.

Into this world stepped Lord Dunmore—driven from Williamsburg, his power shrinking by the day. Desperate, he made his gamble: a promise of freedom to any enslaved person who would fight for the Crown.
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Image: John Murray, the 4th Earl of Dunmore, image from a portrait painting by Joshua Reynolds, circa 1765.

They came—men who had known nothing but labor and the lash, women clutching children in their arms, fleeing a life of forced servitude. Clad in red coats, they wore the promise of freedom stitched across their chests: “Liberty to Slaves.”
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Image: Reproduction of the smock worn by the Royal Ethiopian Regiment formed by Virginia governor Lord Dunmore.

When the war ended, their promise of freedom did not dissolve—it hardened into a question. How to be free? In the docks of New York, thousands of Black Loyalists gathered, men, women, and children who had wagered everything on the British.

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Image: A record of some of the orders issued by Sir Guy Carleton during the American War of Independence.

And so came the Book of Negroes—not a casual record, but a ledger. A collection of names, dates, and descriptions. Beneath the ink-stained parchment is a record of lives caught in the violent churn of a revolution that promised liberty but denied it to many.
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Image: The Inspection Roll of Negroes, the National Archives, Washington DC.

“Harry Washington, 43, fine fellow. Formerly the property of General Washington; left him 7 years ago.” His name is written—no other details, just a mark of a man who had once served the most celebrated figure in America.
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Image: Entry of Harry Washington in the Book of Negroes. Source:National archives of Nova Scotia.

The ledger was more than a list—it was a weapon. The Treaty of Paris (1783) ended the war but left Black Loyalists in limbo. The Americans demanded the return of all “property”—including those who had seized their freedom. But British Commander of North America Guy Carleton refused.
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Image: Treaty of Paris; 9/3/1783; National Archives Building, Washington, DC.

Sir Guy Carleton by Baron H. de Dirckinck Holmfeldt (1835-1912), located in the Château Ramezay, Montreal, Canada.

The names grew—thousands etched in ink. Those whose names were entered crowded aboard ships bound for Nova Scotia, seeking sanctuary. But Nova Scotia was not a promised land—it was a place of struggle. Rocky soil, brutal winters, land grants delayed or denied.
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Image: Map of Black Loyalist settlements in Nova Scotia. Canadian Museum of History.

Prejudice crossed the waters with them. In 1784, in Shelburne, white Loyalists rioted, attacking their Black neighbors. The promise of freedom turned to fear, but the Black Loyalists endured.
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IImage: The earliest known image of a Black Nova Scotian, in British Canada, in 1788. "A Black Wood Cutter at Shelburne, Nova Scotia."

“Deborah, 20, pock-marked, formerly the property of George Washington; left him 4 years ago.” Deborah Squash—reduced in the ledger to a blemish, but her name tells another story. She fled Mount Vernon, seized the chaos of revolution, and gambled everything for a chance at freedom.
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Image: Entry of Deborah Squash in the Book of Negroes. Credit: Library and Archives Canada. Original Author: Guy Carleton.

The Book of Negroes is more than names—it is a silent archive of human dignity. A ledger that refused to let the lives it recorded disappear. A testament to courage, to desperation, and to the unceasing demand to be remembered.
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Image: William Homes in the "Book of Negroes" - July 31, 1783, Independence National Historical Park