Benjamin Quarles's The Negro in the American Revolution

“Building on Quarles’s enduring insight that African Americans declared their 'loyalty . . . not to a place nor to a people, but to a principle,' these essays show unequivocally that enslaved Americans were the ones who turned the War of Independence into a revolution.”—Woody Holton, author of Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution

“Bookended by a thoughtful new introduction and essays showcasing some of the latest research on the revolutionary era, this timely edition not only revives Quarles’s pioneering scholarship but also shows how historians have built on and expanded his insights. A useful text for the classroom as well as for experts.”—Manisha Sinha, author of The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860–1920

“Capacious and intentional in format, this critical edition underscores long-standing questions about freedom and democracy. It centers Quarles’s unmatched contribution to the framework of Black political and social history during the Age of Revolution while masterfully connecting it to a new generation of scholarship. This beautiful book highlights an intellectual lineage that is both exciting and boundless.”—Erica Armstrong Dunbar, author of Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge