Our Children Free & Happy

the long version

This is a unique group of previously unpublished letters which are held in manuscript form by the British Library, the Library of the University of Illinois, Chicago, and the Public Record Office, London. The letters were written by black settlers who had migrated from North America to Sierra Leone. They record an attempt by self-liberated ex-slaves to obtain political and land rights, which they felt had been unjustly denied them, using their literacy in English as a tool. As the letters reveal, their efforts ended in tragedy for, after delivering a declaration of independence and leading an armed rebellion, two settlers were hanged and others banished from their new homes. Christopher Fyfe's introduction explains the historical background to the period. An important supplementary essay by Professor Charles Jones examines the linguistic significance of the letters, comparing them with native English letters of the period.