The Life of Boston King: Black Loyalist, Minister and Master Carpenter

Nanette Morton teaches English at McMaster University in Hamilton.

During the American Revolution, Boston King, a slave carpenter born in
North Carolina, was “determined to go to Charles Town, and throw
[him]self into the hands of the English.” Escaping to Nova Scotia and
freedom, King became a minister, eventually leaving to obtain education
in England and to pursue mission work in Sierra Leone. His brief memoir,
originally published in the Methodist Magazine in 1798, was forgotten
until Carmelita Robertson discovered it in the Nova Scotia archives in
Halifax. King’s brief narrative describes the cruelty he suffered at
the hands of the carpenter to whom he was apprenticed, and the hardships
he endured during and after his bid for freedom.

The editors’ notes, which exceed the length of the narrative itself,
offer a treasure trove of information about Boston King’s owner, his
possible parents, and the times in which he lived. The well-researched
notes could nonetheless benefit from a brief discussion of the religious
doctrines that were the centre of Boston King’s life. Like other
former slaves who wrote autobiographies during this time, including John
Marrant and Olaudah Equiano, King details his spiritual struggles and
expresses doubts about his own salvation. Including more than a mention
of King’s contemporaries and a brief note on the early history and
purpose of narratives like this one would have given the story a deeper
context.