The Story
âEspionage and Enslavement in the Revolution: The True Story of Robert Townsend and Elizabethâ by Claire Bellerjeau and Tiffany Yecke Brooks, Foreword by Vanessa Williams. ISBN 978-1-4930-5247-9. Copyright 2021. Hardcover 232 pages. Signed First Edition.
In January 1785, a young African American woman named Elizabeth was put on board the Lucretia in New York Harbor, bound for Charleston, where she would be sold to her fifth master in just twenty-two years. Leaving behind a small child she had little hope of ever seeing again, Elizabeth was faced with the stark reality of being sold south to a life quite different from any she had known before. She had no idea that Robert Townsend, a son of the family she was enslaved by, would locate her, safeguard her child, and return her to New Yorkânor how her story would help turn one of Americaâs first spies into an abolitionist.
Robert Townsend is best known as one of George Washingtonâs most trusted spies, but few know about how he worked to end slavery. As Robert and Elizabethâs story unfolds, prominent figures from history cross their path, including Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Benedict Arnold, John AndrĂ©, and John Adams, as well as participants in the Boston Massacre, the Sons of Liberty, the Battle of Long Island, Franklinâs Paris negotiations, and the Benedict Arnold treason plot.
Description
âEspionage and Enslavement in the Revolution: The True Story of Robert Townsend and Elizabethâ by Claire Bellerjeau and Tiffany Yecke Brooks, Foreword by Vanessa Williams. ISBN 978-1-4930-5247-9. Copyright 2021. Hardcover 232 pages. Signed First Edition.
In January 1785, a young African American woman named Elizabeth was put on board the Lucretia in New York Harbor, bound for Charleston, where she would be sold to her fifth master in just twenty-two years. Leaving behind a small child she had little hope of ever seeing again, Elizabeth was faced with the stark reality of being sold south to a life quite different from any she had known before. She had no idea that Robert Townsend, a son of the family she was enslaved by, would locate her, safeguard her child, and return her to New Yorkânor how her story would help turn one of Americaâs first spies into an abolitionist.
Robert Townsend is best known as one of George Washingtonâs most trusted spies, but few know about how he worked to end slavery. As Robert and Elizabethâs story unfolds, prominent figures from history cross their path, including Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Benedict Arnold, John AndrĂ©, and John Adams, as well as participants in the Boston Massacre, the Sons of Liberty, the Battle of Long Island, Franklinâs Paris negotiations, and the Benedict Arnold treason plot.
