The Birch Trials at Fraunces Tavern. Fraunces Tavern Museum, New York City, NY

The Birch Trials at Fraunces Tavern explores the 1783 meetings of a joint British and American commission at Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan. The proceedings, named for Brigadier General Samuel Birch who oversaw the effort, reviewed and deliberated upon the eligibility of some Black Loyalists to evacuate New York City with the British Army. Primarily, the exhibition is designed to highlight the Birch Trials as a site-specific event that happened at Fraunces Tavern at the end of the Revolutionary War. The museum also intends the exhibition to provide “recognition…to the thousands of Black Patriots who fought to further the cause of American Independence.”¹

Research for the exhibition was undertaken on both sides of the Atlantic and across three countries. This research is evident, particularly in the exhibition’s inclusion and discussion of pages of the “Book of Negroes,” a record of over three thousand Black individuals who were ultimately permitted...