Boston King
Boston King was born around 1760 on a plantation near Charleston, South Carolina, and is notable for his journey from enslavement to freedom and ultimately becoming a missionary in Africa. His father was kidnapped from Africa and his mother worked as a nurse and seamstress. King began his life in servitude at a young age, experiencing severe violence and punishment. During the American Revolution, he sought freedom by joining British forces, ultimately serving as a carpenter and participating in key military actions. After the war, King was recognized as a free man among the Black loyalists and relocated to Nova Scotia, where he became a prominent Methodist leader.
In 1791, he emigrated to Sierra Leone, where he became the first Methodist missionary in Africa. King's memoir, published in 1798, provides valuable insights into the experiences of Black individuals during the Revolutionary War and the challenges faced by Black communities in Nova Scotia. His life reflects themes of struggle, resilience, and the search for freedom and identity.
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Subject Terms
Boston King
Preacher, missionary
- Born: 1760
- Birthplace: Charleston, South Carolina
- Died: 1802
- Place of death: Sierra Leone
Significance: Boston King was born into slavery in South Carolina around 1760. He escaped in 1780, joining British troops. After being re-captured and enslaved again by the Americans, King was granted freedom as a Black loyalist in 1782 and was part of a group of Black settlers in Nova Scotia. He moved to a free settlement in Sierra Leone, West Africa, where he later died.
Background
Boston King was born on the Richard Waring plantation near Charleston, South Carolina, around 1760. His father was kidnapped from Africa as a child and sent to the United States. His father knew how to read and write, and worked as a driver on the plantation. King’s mother was a nurse and seamstress.
King started training as a house servant when he was six years old, and when he was nine, he was sent to care for the cattle. At sixteen, he was sent to apprentice as a carpenter in Charleston. In his own memoir, King recounted being badly beaten by the master carpenter, who struck him on the head and other parts of his body “without mercy” if any of his tools were lost or misplaced. On one occasion, the punishment was so severe that King could not work for three weeks. He said that when his enslaver got wind of the treatment he received at the hands of his master, he came to town and reprimanded him. “This had a good effect, and he gave much better to me, the two succeeding years, and I began to acquire a proper knowledge of my trade,” King wrote.
Life’s Work
British troops occupied Charleston in 1780 during the American Revolution (1775–1783). One day, King borrowed his enslaver’s horse to visit his parents, but another servant took the horse and stayed several days longer than permitted. Because King knew he would be severely punished for arriving late, he decided to instead join the British, which offered enslaved Black people freedom in exchange for service in the war. King fled to a British garrison in Charles Town, gaining his freedom. He is thought to be one of as many as 100,000 enslaved Black people who attempted to do this in pursuit of freedom during the war.
King became a servant to British officers and eventually joined the British Army, working mostly as a carpenter. However, he also participated in several important battles. On one occasion, he carried a crucial message through American lines. This saved the lives of 250 British soldiers at Nelson’s Ferry, South Carolina. King later became a crew member on a British warship and participated in the capture of an American ship in Chesapeake Bay. He was captured and re-enslaved by the American Navy but escaped near the end of the war.
In 1781, King married a runaway enslaved woman and the two moved to British-occupied New York. There, he worked as a servant. In 1782, Americans demanded that the British return all American property, including enslaved people. In his memoir, King said that formerly enslaved people were fearful of returning to their enslavers, as many of them were very cruel. However, British negotiator Guy Carleton successfully argued that Black loyalists like King were free people. King was one of about 5,000 Black loyalists who were issued certificates guaranteeing their freedom. King was overjoyed.
In 1783, he accompanied about 3,000 Black and White loyalists on a ship heading from New York to Port Roseway, Nova Scotia. There, the group founded the Birchtown settlement. Each family had its own lot of land. However, the provisions given by the British were inadequate and the land was barren and rocky. By 1786, the British had stopped sending supplies and the free Black loyalists suffered from starvation. They sold their possessions or indentured themselves to White settlers in order to survive. King worked as a carpenter, making and selling chests. He was ordained as a minister shortly after settling in Nova Scotia, and had by this time established himself as a Methodist leader in the region, serving as a circuit-rider preacher in Black settlements.
In 1791, King and his wife Violet joined almost 1,200 other Black Nova Scotians who were immigrating to a new colony of free Black people called “Freetown” in Sierra Leone. They departed in January 1792. Sixty passengers died en route. Violet died during a fever epidemic after their arrival. King survived and became the first Methodist missionary in Africa. He was sent to England in 1794, and for two years he attended Kingswood School, a religious school near Bristol. During his studies, he wrote a memoir about his life titled Memoirs of the Life of Boston King. While in England he also preached to a White congregation, saying that he found a “more cordial love to the White People than I have ever experienced before.” He returned to Africa in September 1796. Around 1798, he and his second wife moved further into the interior of Sierra Leone and served as missionaries to the Sherbo people. His memoir was published in 1798 in The Methodist Magazine.
Impact
King’s memoir was one of only three autobiographies about Black Nova Scotians written between 1600 and 1900, so it sheds important light on Black history in this region. It also sheds light on the American Revolutionary War with themes of slavery, revolution, and liberty. King was also the first Methodist missionary in Africa.
Personal Life
King married Violet in 1781. After her death, he married his second wife, Peggy, sometime between 1792 and 1798. King and his second wife died in 1802 while living as missionaries amongst the Sherbo people in Sierra Leone.
Bibliography
“Boston King.” Africans in America, PBS, www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2p60.html. Accessed 20 June 2023.
“Boston King and the Black Loyalists of the American Revolution.” University of Oxford Faculty of History, 2023, www.history.ox.ac.uk/boston-king-and-the-black-loyalists-of-the-american-revolution-0. Accessed 20 June 2023.
“Boston King’s Freedom in New York City.” Revolutionary Tours NYC, 12 Dec. 2021, www.revolutionarytoursnyc.com/2021/12/12/boston-kings-freedom-in-new-york-city/. Accessed 20 June 2023.
“Boston King Recalls Fighting for the British and for His Freedom, 1798.” The American Yawp Reader, www.americanyawp.com/reader/the-american-revolution/boston-king-recalls-fighting-for-the-british-and-for-his-freedom-1798/. Accessed 20 June 2023.
HL. “Boston King.” Voices of the American Revolution, Spring 2021, sites.smith.edu/voices-of-the-american-revolution/boston-king/. Accessed 20 June 2023.
King, Boston. “Memoirs of the Life of Boston King, A Black Preacher.” The Methodist Magazine, Mar.-June 1798, www.latinamericanstudies.org/slavery/Boston‗King.pdf. Accessed 20 June 2023.
Smith, Adam Christian. “Boston King (C. 1760–1802).” BlackPast, 22 Sept. 2010, www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/boston-king-c-1760-1802/. Accessed 20 June 2023.