How can ârealâ educators not see the value of graphical interpretations in classrooms for some/all students?
It dumbfounds me.
Thank you, Mr. D.
Seriously?
The Black Brigade: A moving and subversive look at the black Empire Loyalists who fought for Britain in the US Revolutionary War, convinced that an independent America would turn slave.
Somehow I can guess that this section was written by a Canadian who like to find any way to spin Empire Loyalism as anything other than a reactionary movementâŚ
Independent America wasnât going to âturn slaveâ, it was already âslaveâ. As Dr. Samuel Johnson wryly asked, âHow is it we hear the loudest yelps for freedom from the drivers of Negroes?â The British promised freedom to any American slaves who would enlist in their cause. It is hard to dismiss the motives of those who therefore joined as âreactionaryâ.
Secondly, it seems that what George III or his advisors were trying to do was move toward a modern unitary state, as opposed to the confederate organization which existed in North America and still, to some extent, in Great Britain. One can argue about whether this was âgoodâ or âbadâ, but it was progressive in the sense of bringing about a new state of things rather than reactionary. The U.S. Civil War was a continuation of this conflict with, once again, racial equality on the progressive, imperial side and slavery on the reactionary or conservative confederate side.
Itâs worth remembering that slavery was rampant in the British Empire at the time, not only in the parts that became the US, but elsewhere such as in the Caribbean. While it is true that the British did get rid of slavery in their empire several decades before the US did, at the time of the American revolution, it was very much a thing in the Empire and any attempts for the British to enlist slaves on their side was rather like the Confederates later enlisting Cherokees on theirs â pure opportunism rather than ideology.
Opportunistic it might have been, but it certainly wasnât reactionary. In any case, the victory of the American side was very bad news for the slaves and the Indians. This aspect of the situation has been carefully obscured in schools and media in the US.
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