The Book of Negroes mini-series

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Date/Time
Date(s) - 02/06/2018 - 02/28/2018
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM

Location
Navigation Center

Categories


  • February 6 room – 262 – 11:30 – 12:30
  • February 8 room – 262 – 11:30 – 12:30
  • February 14 room – 262 – 11:30 – 12:30
  • February 15 room – 272 -11:30 – 12:30
  • February 20 room – 265/266 – 11:30 – 12:30
  • February 28 room – 263 – 11:30 – 1:00

Overview:

During the American Revolution, the British promised the slaves that King George would grant them freedom if they assisted the British with their war effort.  Over 3,000 loyalists and enslaved people made it to the British lines. The British kept their word by recording all of the names and descriptions in a book that they named “The Book of Negroes”. They settled those that were listed in the book in Nova Scotia, the West Indies and London, giving them freedom.

Synopsis:

This story based on Lawrence Hill’s award-winning novel of the same name, “The Book of Negroes” follows the harrowing journey of Amanita Diallo, who was kidnapped from her village in West Africa as a girl, sold and put to work on a South Carolina plantation. She eventually finds her way to New York, escaping to the safety of Canvas Town, an early black settlement in lower Manhattan during the Revolutionary War. It’s there where she helps register 3,000 Black Loyalists in the “Book of Negroes,” a historic British military ledger that recorded their passage on ships sailing from Manhattan to Nova Scotia. Her journey comes full circle as she works to find her way back home, to Africa. Amanita goes on to testify to Parliament that slavery is an unjust institution. This testimony and others play an important factor in causing the British government to abolish slavery.

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