01/29/2026
Davy Johnston's letter in the current DAM
Complex History
I enjoyed the piece by Ty Burr ’80 about the role of David Schmidt ’09 in creating the Ken Burns series, The American Revolution [“America’s First Civil War,” November/December]. I was reminded of two chapters in the recent “Unfinished Revolution” issue of The Atlantic: “Dear Son,” which describes how the coming revolution tore apart Ben Franklin’s family, with Franklin’s son William remaining a loyalist while his father helped birth our nation; and another chapter, “The Black Loyalists,” which tells a story I had never thought about. Thousands of slaves escaped slavery to join the British and some of the Founding Fathers, including George Washington (a slaveholder), vigorously sought to reclaim their slaves after the revolution—American history I think not well known or appreciated. I assume Burns’ and Schmidt’s research as it appears in the series will cover the former issue, and I hope it will include the latter, despite its bit of tarnish on our nation’s nostalgic sense of that period.
DAVID C.-H. JOHNSTON ’66
West Hartford, Connecticut
