Free African Americans
By 1770, there may have been 40,000 or more free African Americans the Thirteen colonies.Template:ColoCitation needed This number may have included runaway slaves, descendants of early indentured servants, and black immigrants from the West Indies.
The status of free black people in colonial America was one of uncertainty, one between a slave and a free white. He was faced with special legal, economic, and social restrictions. However, few opted to trade their free status for that of a slave. Many acquired property, and left wills leaving their property to their children.
Read more about this topic: African Americans In The Revolutionary War
Famous quotes containing the words free, african and/or americans:
“Our Luke shall leave us, Isabel; the land
Shall not go from us, and it shall be free;
He shall possess it, free as is the wind
That passes over it.”
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
“I think it’s unfair for people to try to make successful blacks feel guilty for not feeling guilty.... We’re unique in that we’re not supposed to enjoy the things we’ve worked so hard for.”
—Patricia Grayson, African American administrator. As quoted in Time magazine, p. 59 (March 13, 1989)
“There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)