The Escapes of David George: The Odyssey of Slavery, Freedom, and the American Revolution

As part of a History Department and CNY Humanities Corridor workshop, Greg O’Malley, Ph.D., will present on his new book, The Escapes of David George: An Odyssey of Slavery, Freedom, and the American Revolution (St. Martin’s Press, February 2026). 

The Escapes of David George offers a life history of a man born enslaved in colonial Virginia, whose attempts to escape bondage resulted in wide-ranging travels, captivities and re-enslavements, illuminating both enslaved people’s resistance and the powerful barriers to their escape. David George finally found emancipation by fleeing the emerging United States and running to the British Army during the Revolutionary War. 

O'Malley is a professor and chair in the History Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a historian of slavery, the slave trade and early America.