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 african americans, free, african and/or americans:
“The confirmation of Clarence Thomas, one of the most conservative voices to be added to the [Supreme] Court in recent memory, carries a sobering message for the African- American community.... As he begins to make his mark upon the lives of African Americans, we must acknowledge that his successful nomination is due in no small measure to the support he received from black Americans.”
—Kimberly Crenshaw (b. 1959)
“It may be affirmed, without extravagance, that the free institutions we enjoy, have developed the powers, and improved the condition, of our whole people, beyond any example in the world.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“The white man regards the universe as a gigantic machine hurtling through time and space to its final destruction: individuals in it are but tiny organisms with private lives that lead to private deaths: personal power, success and fame are the absolute measures of values, the things to live for. This outlook on life divides the universe into a host of individual little entities which cannot help being in constant conflict thereby hastening the approach of the hour of their final destruction.”
—Policy statement, 1944, of the Youth League of the African National Congress. pt. 2, ch. 4, Fatima Meer, Higher than Hope (1988)
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