The Wrong Side of History: Loyalists in the American Revolution with Richard Bell

Join a historian as we go back in time to examine the American Revolution from the perspectives of some of the colonists who made the difficult decision to remain loyal to Britain and the Crown.

The loyalists were the losers of the American Revolution. The Americans who rejected independence and who fought to keep the colonies safely within the bosom of the British Empire lost almost everything when the patriots declared victory at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. History quickly lost sight of them in the years afterward and looking back now, it’s hard to understand why so many ordinary Americans were actually bitterly opposed to the break with Britain and the birth of a new nation.

Richard Bell, professor of history at the University of Maryland takes us back in time to examine the American Revolution from the perspectives of those colonists who remained staunchly loyal to Britain and the Crown. Focusing on individuals with compelling personal stories, we will challenge the deep-rooted stereotypes of loyalists as sycophantic, cowardly, and selfish persons of means – usually merchants, petty aristocrats, or government officials.

In truth, loyalists came from all rungs of the social ladder. Many were white, like the Anglican minister Jacob Bailey, and some were black, like George Washington’s escaped slave Harry. Using their experiences as examples, Bell examines why men and women like them chose to remain loyal to Britain, what the experience of the Revolution was like for them as a result, and how their lives changed once the patriots won the war.

Richard Bell is Professor of History at the University of Maryland and author of the new book Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and their Astonishing Odyssey Home which is shortlisted for the George Washington Prize and the Harriet Tubman Prize. He has held major research fellowships at Yale, Cambridge, and the Library of Congress and is the recipient of the National Endowment of the Humanities Public Scholar award. He serves as a Trustee of the Maryland Center for History and Culture, as an elected member of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, and as a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

This conversation is suitable for all ages.

90 minutes, including a 30 minute Q&A.