Description

by Daniel Cruson

In this short monograph Dan has summarized a year of research on Newtown slave and early free black population. From scattered records he has found data on 71 Afro-Americans who were kept as slaves, their owners, and some of their family history. From this database he has compiled a picture of the life style of these forgotten members of early Newtown Society.

To tell this story more fully Dan has also enlarged his data base to include the free black population of the town up to 1860 and this has enabled him to trace what eventually happened to many of the slaves after they were freed. There are no living descendants of Newtown’s slaves still in this area and Dan attempts in his last chapter to explain why this is so.

Dan has also included an account of those blacks who fought in the American Revolution to help their masters gain freedom from the British crown as well as a special section on black folklore which includes a consideration of the effect on the Underground Railroad on Newtown and an account of what really happened to Purdy of Purdy Station.