page_title: Samuel Fraunces
section_title: In popular culture
hierarchical_section_title: Samuel Fraunces / In popular culture
caption_attribution_description: English: Students depicting Sam Fraunces, who ran Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan, telling Jane Tuers of the village of Bergen that he overheard British soldiers toasting an American traitor named Arnold who was to deliver West Point. Tuers told her brother, Daniel Van Reypen, who in turn informed Generals Wayne and Washington
context_page_description: Samuel Fraunces was an American restaurateur and the owner/operator of Fraunces Tavern in New York City. During the Revolutionary War, he provided for prisoners held during the seven-year British occupation of New York City, and claimed to have been a spy for the American side. At the end of the war, it was at Fraunces Tavern that General George Washington said farewell to his officers. Fraunces later served as steward of Washington's presidential household in New York City and Philadelphia.
  Since the mid-19th century, there has been a dispute over Fraunces's racial identity. According to his 1983 biographer, Kym S. Rice: "During the Revolutionary era, Fraunces was commonly referred to as 'Black Sam.' Some have taken references such as these as an indication that Fraunces was a black man. ...[W]hat is known of his life indicates he was a white man." Some 19th- and 20th-century sources described Fraunces as "a negro man", "swarthy", "mulatto", "Negro", "coloured", "fastidious old Negro", and "Haitian Negro", but most of these date from more than a century after his death.
context_section_description: Bergen Celebration, a 1910 historical pageant celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of Jersey City. In a reenactment of the Jane Tuers legend,  Fraunces was portrayed by a student in blackface.
  Dinner for the General, a 1953 teleplay by Reginald Lawrence for Hallmark Hall of Fame, Season 2, Episode 2-26, aired on NBC, February 22, 1953—a teenaged Phoebe Fraunces falls desperately in love with Thomas Hickey, and is horrified when she uncovers his plot to poison General Washington
  Washington's Farewell to His Officers, a 1955 teleplay by Goodman Ace for You Are There, aired on CBS, February 27, 1955—Samuel Fraunces serves a banquet for General Washington and his officers at the end of the Revolutionary War
  The Ballot and Me, a 1956 play by Langston Hughes, featured a free-black Samuel Fraunces as a character
  Who Is Carrie? a 1984 historical novel for young adults by Christopher and James Lincoln Collier—Carrie is an enslaved kitchenmaid working for Samuel Fraunces
  Beyond Harlem, History of Black New York Downtown, a 2005 teleplay by Dara Frazier for NYC Media
  Shades of War, a 2006 off-Broadway play by Dara Frazier-Harper, portrays Samuel Fraunces as a free-black, ultra-rich, Michael Bloomberg-like character
  Rough Crossings, a 2007 BBC "drama documentary" based on a book by Simon Schama, portrays both Samuel Fraunces and the "fictional" Phoebe Fraunces as free-blacks. It faced criticism on several fronts.
  The Book of Negroes, a 2007 novel by Lawrence Hill about the life of slaves during the American Revolution, portrays Samuel Fraunces as a freed mulatto from Jamaica who runs his namesake tavern, participates in historical events, and later moves to Mount Vernon to run George Washington's household.
  Fraunces is portrayed by an African-American actor in a 2010 video at the President's House Memorial in Philadelphia.
  Black Entertainment Television presented a 2015 miniseries, The Book of Negroes, based on Hill's 2007 novel. African-American actor Cuba Gooding, Jr. portrayed Fraunces.
caption: Schoolchildren in 1910 portraying Jane Tuers and Sam Fraunces as an African American (using blackface)
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