“How Liberty Is Sweet" Lecture with Dr. Jane Lancaster

“How Liberty Is Sweet: Black Loyalists in Newport During the Revolutionary War” Lecture with Dr. Jane Lancaster

Thursday, June 11, 2026

Richard I. Burnham Resource Center | 82 Touro Street, Newport

Admission $15 – $20 per person | *Student Discounts now available $10 with valid student ID

6:30 to 7:30 PM; Doors open at 5:30 PM for a complimentary reception

As historian Benjamin Quarles observed, the loyalty of Black Americans in the Revolution “was not to a place nor to a people, but to a principle, freedom.” In Newport—where nearly twelve percent of the population was Black and almost a third of white households enslaved at least one person—that principle confronted the realities of war, uncertain futures, and the dangers of self-liberation.

Drawing on the context of British proclamations offering freedom to enslaved people, including the Phillipsburg Proclamation of 1779, this Tavern Talk will discuss the options that were available to Newport’s Black residents as the British army prepared to depart – remain in enslaved conditions in Rhode Island, or leave with the retreating British forces in pursuit of freedom.

Dr. Jane Lancaster’s research explores this pivotal and often overlooked chapter in Newport’s Revolutionary-era history, highlighting the courage, agency, and complex decision-making of Black Loyalists seeking liberty in a time of profound upheaval – those who stayed, those who left, and the broader movement of an estimated 20,000 Black individuals who liberated themselves during or after the war.