The Untold Story: Rhode Island African Americans as Loyalists

Jamestown historian Peter Fay

The pivotal role African Americans played in helping the British suppress rebel resistance in Rhode Island in the early years of the War of Independence has been largely overlooked. In 1775, General Nathanael Greene of Warwick condemned the burning of rebel houses in Jamestown, noting that “Col. Joseph Wanton’s Negroes piloted [British Captain] Wallace’s crew about the island and pointed out the houses to burn.”

Peter Fay examines why such acts of agency by Black loyalists have been largely excluded by historians, while narratives of Black patriotism, especially the celebrated Black Regiment, have been elevated. Recovering these untold stories from the historical record and examining their erasure will shed much light on the racial-political lens through which America still views itself today.