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Espionage and Enslavement in the Revolution

The True Story of Robert Townsend and Elizabeth
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In January 1785, a young African American slave 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 22 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 York - nor how her story would help turn one of Americas first spies into a fierce abolitionist. Robert Townsend is best known as one of George Washingtons most trusted spies, but few know the story of his development into a fierce abolitionist. As Robert and Elizabeths story unfolds, prominent figures from history cross their path, including Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Benedict Arnold, John André and John Adams; as well as participants in the Boston Massacre, the Sons of Liberty, the Battle of Long Island, Franklins Paris negotiations, and the Benedict Arnold treason plot.

Claire Bellerjeau currently serves as Historian and Director of Education at Raynham Hall Museum in Oyster Bay, New York, and has been researching the Townsend family and their slaves for nearly 15 years, including curating a yearlong exhibit on the Townsend "Slave Bible" in 2008. In 2015, during a research visit to the New York Historical Society, she discovered what may be one of the earliest poems ever written by Jupiter Hammon, Americas first published African-American writer. She has spoken internationally and published several articles in scholarly journals about life and artifacts of colonial New York. Bellerjeau lives with her husband Chris in Oyster Bay, New York. Tiffany Yecke Brooks holds a PhD in American and Dramatic Literature from Florida State University, and has spoken and published widely on early portrayals of race in Trans-Atlantic performance as well as portrayals of the emerging American identity in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. She was the lead writer and researcher for the New York Times best-selling George Washingtons Secret Six, Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates, and Andrew Jackson and the Miracle at New Orleans, with Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger, and has served as the lead or contributing writer for five additional New York Times best-sellers. She lives in Oklahoma with her family.

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