Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Note on sources -- Prologue -- 1 Liberty or death -- 2 Fleeing the founding fathers -- 3 Starving in the streets of London -- 4 Back to Africa -- 5 Bound for the fatal shore -- 6 Recalcitrant convicts at Sydney Cove -- 7 The dread of perishing by famine -- 8 An incorrigibly stubborn black -- 9 Sportsman to General Grose -- 10 Tugging at the oars -- playing in the band -- 11 The Old Commodore -- Afterword -- Appendix: Biographies of the black founders -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary
In this compelling new book, distinguished historian and writer Cassandra Pybus reveals that black convicts were among our first fleet settlers - a fact which profoundly complicates our understanding of race relations in early colonial Australia. Most of these black founders were originally slaves from America who had sought freedom with the British during the American Revolution only to find themselves abandoned and unemployed in England when the war was over. Pybus' stories include the notorious runaway 'Black Caesar', who became our first bushranger, and the wonderfully subversive Billie Bl
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-210) and index