Christian McBurney will be speaking on his new book, Dark Voyage: An American Privateer’s War on Britain’s African Slave Trade. The book is a fascinating microhistory of a Rhode Island privateer, owned by John Brown of Providence and manned mostly by Rhode Island officers and sailors, that during the Revolutionary War sailed to the coast of Africa and attacked a British slave trading post and British slave ships. At the time of the War of Independence, Britain dominated the worldwide slave trade. The book further details for the first time other American privateers capturing numerous British slave ships just before they reached their destinations in the Caribbean, with the consequence of seriously disrupting and virtually halting the British slave trade. Yet the privateers had their own selfish motives.
This is Christian McBurney’s sixth book on the American Revolutionary War and eighth on Rhode Island (including co-authoring two books on Word War II Rhode Island). He is the founder and publisher of Rhode Island’s leading history blog at smallstatebighistory.com. He is an independent historian residing in Kensington, Maryland, and West Kingston, Rhode Island.
Begins at 7pm, Eastern
In-Person Reception begins at 6pm
Purchase tickets below:
Virtual Tickets: Members: $10, Non-Members: $15
In-Person Tickets: Members: $15, Non-Members: $20
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