A Spy and a Slave: Espionage and Enslavement in the Revolution: The True Story of Robert Townsend and Elizabeth

In 1785, an African American woman, Elizabeth, was sold to her fifth enslaver. She had no idea that Robert Townsend, a son of her first enslaver, would locate her and safeguard her child—nor that Robert, one of America's first spies, had joined an anti-slavery movement. The paperback has a new chapter on recent discoveries about her life. In January 1785, a young African American woman named Elizabeth (Liss) was put on board the Lucretia in New York Harbor, bound for Charleston, where she would be sold to her fifth enslaver in just twenty-two years. Leaving behind a small child she had little hope of ever seeing again, Elizabeth was faced with the stark reality of being sold south to a life quite different from any she had known before. She had no idea that Robert Townsend, a son of the first family she was enslaved by, would locate her, safeguard her child, and return her to New York—nor that Robert, one of George Washington's most trusted spies, had joined an anti-slavery movement. A