The Escapes of David George: An Odyssey of Slavery, Freedom, and the American Revolution

REGISTER

Tuesday, June 21st, 2026, at 5:30 PM EST

Please join us on the evening of July 21st for a book talk with Greg O’Malley, author of The Escapes of David George: An Odyssey of Slavery (St. Martin’s Press, 2026)

The Escapes of David George: An Odyssey of Slavery, Freedom, and the American Revolution (St. Martin’s Press, 2026) presents a life history of a man, born enslaved in colonial Virginia, whose repeated escape attempts triggered a remarkable saga. He survived enslavement on Virginia and Carolina plantations, stints in hiding in backcountry Carolina settlements, captivity in Native American communities, and evacuation from the emerging United States (and emancipation) with the British Army during the Revolution. Along the way, he founded arguably the first Black Baptist congregation in what became the United States. His surviving narrative, though brief, is the earliest known firsthand account of an attempt to escape slavery in North America. Because his struggle against enslavement spanned the revolutionary era, his story offers a counterweight to the litany of biographies of white “founding fathers.” Instead of a fight for political freedom from Britain and monarchy, George’s life reveals a parallel quest for freedom from American slavery. To achieve his independence, George fled the United States in the moment of its creation.