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¶ … Black Soldier During the American War for Independence
Many Americans today are aware of the military service of blacks during the First and Second World Wars, and some are even aware of the major contributions of these troops to the Union's victory in the Civil War. Far fewer modern Americans, though, are aware of the contribution of black soldiers during America's War for Independence. In fact, by war's end in 1783, fully five thousand black soldiers would serve in the military for a country that otherwise held them and their compatriots in slavery and contempt. This paper reviews the literature to determine the role of the black soldier during the American War for Independence, followed by a summary of the research and important findings concerning their role in the conclusion.
Review and Discussion
Although they were at a clear disadvantage economically, politically and socially, many black men recognized the need for their service during...
For instance, the editors of The New Crisis report that, "Once the colonies decided to rebel against the oppressive rule of England, many black men joined the militia. They appeared in the handsome uniform of the Colonial forces and their names were officially entered on the muster roles" (African-American Patriots of the Revolutionary War 24).
The fact that thousands of black soldiers felt compelled to serve during the American War for Independence was all the more remarkable given the prevailing views about African-Americans during this period in American history and the fact that they were prohibited from serving in the military for the first few years of the war. For instance, according to Loewen, "Certainly most white Americans in the 1770s were racist" (141). The service by black soldiers during the Revolutionary War, though, helped to change the prevailing views about African-Americans in the minds of some Americans. In this regard, Loewen adds that, "Race relations were in flux, however, due to the Revolutionary War and to its underlying ideology about the rights of mankind that Jefferson, among others, did so much to spread" (141).
Notwithstanding their marginalized condition in mainstream American society, about one in twenty of the troops that served during the Revolutionary War were black and it is likely that their numbers would have been even higher had the U.S. government allowed their enlistment prior…
Works Cited
"African-American Patriots of the Revolutionary War." The New Crisis (January/February 1999) 106(1): 24-31.
Ferling, John. "Myths of the American Revolution." Smithsonian (January 2010), 10(3): 37-41.
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me. New York: The New Press, 1995.
The simultaneous convergence of these leaders, groups, and movements, is easy to understand when one considers the environment of the Harlem area during the early 1900s. With vast numbers of new African-American citizens having come from the racist south, the area was ripe with social, political, and cultural concepts that come with new found freedom. In such a charged atmosphere, leaders such as Garvey had an audience ready to listen,
The independence movement cites their influences for peaceful reform as "Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nelson Mandela" ("Biafra Case"). Their devotion to a peaceful accord between Nigeria and Biafra, creating another independent Biafran nation is largely ignored and ridiculed by the Nigerian government. The official group fighting for independence is the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), formed in 1999, and Nigerian police are
130). Although their white masters generally exposed them to Christianity, enslaved people adopted only parts of the white religion and mixed it with elements of their own beliefs. Even though the family was not generally a legally sanctioned unit on plantations, the basic roles of mothers, fathers, and grandparents in rearing children did exist. Families could be severed and separated at the whim and desire of the slave owners, but families
SIX: How does your family culture affect the formation of gender roles? There are many families in the African-American community that consist only of a mother. It is no secret that in a large number of Black families, the father is gone. I am blessed because my parents have pretty much shared responsibilities for the home and our income; we have no gender issues. SEVEN: Is a language other than English
The effect this had on many slaves was to make them determined to gain their freedom at all costs. Family relationships, something most people take for granted, were not considered in the lives of slaves. Two of the narratives note, "At the close of that year I was sold to a Thomas Stanton, and had to be separated from my wife and one daughter, who was about one-month-old" (Smith 13).
African-American Roles in the War for Independence and the Civil War America was founded on the principle of freedom. With this in mind, it comes as little surprise that both the War for Independence and the Civil War have the similarity that they both involved the struggle for freedom. Both wars sought to overcome oppression and both wars encompassed a vision of basic human rights connected with a sense of