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Abstract

In her article, “The Aftermath of Loyalism Through the Experience of Four Newport Women,” MaryKate Smolenski focuses on Newport women whose lives were disrupted in the aftermath of the Revolutionary War. Following the British occupation of the town in 1776-1779, three Newport women, who were deemed to be Loyalists due to the political views and allegiances of their husbands and fathers, were forced into exile. A fourth woman, who had been enslaved in a Newport family, declared fealty to the British in exchange for emancipation from bondage. She and her children were transported out of the country. Smolenski deftly describes the varied life experiences of these four Newport women using government records, correspondence, petitions, and other evidence. MaryKate Smolenski received an M.A. in History and Museum Studies from Tufts University in 2020. She was a Newport Historical Society Buchanan Burnham Public History Fellow in 2019. She is a research fellow for the Preservation Society of Newport County, working on the re-interpretation of Hunter House, an eighteenth-century historic home in Newport.

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