African Americans and the Revolutionary War

The History of Black Soldiers in the American Revolution

By: Charles River Editors

Narrated by: KC Wayman

The American Revolution is replete with seminal moments that every American learns in school, from the “shot heard ‘round the world” to the Declaration of Independence, but the events that led up to the fighting at Lexington & Concord were borne out of 10 years of division between the British and their American colonies over everything from colonial representation in governments to taxation, the nature of searches, and the quartering of British regulars in private houses. From 1764-1775, a chain of events that included lightning rods like the Townshend Acts led to bloodshed in the form of the Boston Massacre, while the Boston Tea Party became a symbol of nonviolent protest.

The political and military nature of the Revolutionary War was just as full of intrigue. While disorganized militias fought the Battles of Lexington & Concord, George Washington would lead the Continental Army in the field while men like Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia and Benjamin Franklin negotiated overseas in France. Benedict Arnold would become one of his nation’s most vital war heroes and its most notorious traitor, French forces would play a crucial role at the end of the war, and the Treaty of Paris would conclude the Revolution with one last great surprise.

When the war started, the 13 colonies had a largely rural population of about 2,500,000, with an estimated 500,000 of that population being black. About 95% of them were slaves and 5 percent free, with some sharp differences among the colonies. At the same time, about 250,000 Native Americans lived in the region between the Mississippi and the Appalachians, with a scattering of different bands of varying sizes, like the Cherokee and the Creeks, in the 13 colonies. Most were British allies. And while the colonies were mostly rural, there were several large cities like Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Charleston, and Newport, all of which had ports and vulnerable to naval attacks.

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