African Americans in the American Revolutionary War: This 5-page paper discusses the participation of Black Americans in the

African Americans in the American Revolutionary War: This 5-page paper discusses the participation of Black Americans in the Revolutionary War. There is a bibliography.

Note to the student: On your reference page, complete the publication information for the book, including correct full names of all the authors (the fax ed cover was a little too dark to read), publisher, city and date.

African Americans in the American Revolutionary War

Beginning with the death of Crispus Attucks, the first person to die in the Revolutionary War in the Boston Massacre, blacks gave their lives, fighting for the freedom we enjoy today (Gresham, 1). According to historians, over 5,000 black men were involved in the battle for independence, men who are more or less ignored in the graveyard of forgotten history (Schneider, 19). It is the thesis of this paper that during the Revolutionary War, African Americans fought courageously, with the belief that they would be freed, only to be cheated out of their freedom by the very country they fought for.

The black participation in the Revolutionary War is an often-neglected aspect of the history of the Revolution. The African Americans of the 1770's understood the thinking behind the revolutionary movement. They were influenced by the Great Awakening humanitarian movement, laced with Christian thought, and believed the discourse of freedom as a right (Hine et al, 73). Many used the war to gain their freedom through a variety of means by

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y were united as a people. Those who lived near settlements had access to meetings and newspapers, and they understood that the ferment shook traditional assumptions about the colonies' ties with England. They listened to discussions. According to Hine, "the greatest source of optimism for African Americans was the expectation that white Patriot leaders would realize that their revolutionary principles were incompatible with slavery" (78). Samuel Johnson, the famous writer of London, wondered, "How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of Negroes?" (Hine et al, 78). Thomas Paine also decried the holding of thousands of slaves while moving toward liberty for the colonists. There were regional differences in the experiences of blacks of the time. Those in the North and upper South fared better, and in new England, the African Americans formally made their case for freedom, with court cases as early as 1701 when a Massachusetts slave won his liberty (Hine et al, 78). In April of 1773, a committee of slaves petitioned the delegate to the Massachusetts General Court for their freedom. They saw the potential for black freedom and also the deeply entrenched white prejudice. Many other blacks acted on

Category: History - A