African Americans In The Revolutionary War
Some African Americans saw the Revolution as a fight for justice, but their own liberty and freedom from slavery. Others responded to the Dunmore's Proclamation, and fought for their freedom as Black Loyalists. Benjamin Quarles believed that the role of the African American in the American Revolution can be understood by "realizing that loyalty was not to a place or a person, but to a principle". Regardless of where the loyalties of the African American lay, they made a contribution to the birth of the United States that is often disregarded. During the American Revolutionary War, African Americans served both the Continental Army and the British Army. It is estimated that 5,000 African Americans served as soldiers for the Continental army, while more than 20,000 fought for the British cause. However, there is no documentary evidence that 5,000 African Americans fought in the Continental Army; indeed, that number has been found from the New England states alone. Estimates are difficult because most existing pension and service files do not mention race.
Read more about African Americans In The Revolutionary War: Free African Americans, Motivating Factor, African American Patriots, African American Sailors, Patriot Resistance To Using African Americans, Lord Dunmore's Proclamation, Military Response To Dunmore's Proclamation, African American Loyalists, Black Regiment of Rhode Island, Aftermath of The War For African Americans, African American Women
Other articles related to "african americans in the revolutionary war, americans":
... Black women, many of whom were slaves, served both the Americans and the British in the capacity of nurses, laundresses and cooks ...
Famous quotes containing the words war, americans and/or african:
“Now, were I once at home, and in good satire,
I’d try conclusions with those Janizaries,
And show them what an intellectual war is.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“The establishment of democracy on the American continent was scarcely as radical a break with the past as was the necessity, which Americans faced, of broadening this concept to include black men.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)
“I never feel so conscious of my race as I do when I stand before a class of twenty-five young men and women eager to learn about what it is to be black in America.”
—Claire Oberon Garcia, African American college professor. As quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, p. B3 (July 27, 1994)