Hi, I’m Clint Smith, and this is Crash Course Black American History.
Imagine living in a place where your labor exists primarily for someone else's benefit.
Now, imagine living in a country where motions to pass laws that would benefit your greater
good largely go ignored, and where you feel like the governing body that creates the laws
that shape your life don’t represent you or your best interests.
Imagine being regularly surveilled and watched by people with guns.
Imagine being convicted of crimes without a trial by jury.
Imagine your seas plundered, your coasts ravaged, your towns burnt down, the lives of your people
destroyed, and all that on top of having to pay taxes without having any sort of meaningful
representation.
Oh!
I'm sorry, did you think I was talking about Black people?
Oh no, I was actually going down the list of grievances the American colonists outlined
for Great Britain in the Declaration of Independence.
Which is interesting, given what so many of these colonists would do to Black people during
and after the revolution.
INTRO Now imagine you’re a Black person living
in colonial America, and a war for independence, freedom, and "certain unalienable rights"
is taking place right in front of you.
But the freedom being fought for, is one that would largely only benefit white Americans.
Not you.
The American Revolution, hypocritical as it may have seemed to Black people, did provide
some opportunities for enslaved people to gain their freedom.
Some did so by fighting for and aligning themselves with the Americans, while others fled to fight
with the British.
Over 200,000 people served in the American army during the Revolutionary War.
Historians have determined that anywhere from 5,000 to 8,000 of these troops were of African
descent.
Some were forced to take up arms when able bodied men were needed to fight on behalf
of the colonists.
Others, willingly did so as a show of goodwill, hoping to convince enslavers that Black people
were Americans too, and were thus also worthy of all the rights that these American colonists
were fighting for, for themselves.
At the same time, there were also a lot of black people who calculated, that they should
take their chances fighting for the British Crown, because it was the British who actually
seemed more likely to widely enforce emancipation in the event of their victory.
It’s estimated some 20,000 Black men would end up fighting for the British Army.
Far more, than the number who fought for the Americans.
No matter which side they were fighting for though, there is no question that Black people
played a significant role in the war.
One of the most important figures in the Revolutionary War was a Black man named Crispus Attucks.
And why was he so famous?
Well, it’s said that he was the first person to be killed as part of the revolutionary
cause.
Man for some reason whether it’s movies in the 90s or 18th century revolutions, Black
people always seem to be the first ones to go.
But I digress.
So, Crispus Attucks died during the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770.
On a cold March evening, British troops fired into a crowd of angry Americans who had been
taunting them.
Five colonists were killed and the Americans were absolutely furious.
It amplified the already heated tensions with the British and served as a major catalyst
for the Revolution.
A sailor and rope maker, Crispus Attucks hailed from Framingham, Massachusetts.
As far as we know he was a runaway.
In 1750 someone in Framingham put out an advertisement in search of a 27-year-old, 6'2", short and
curly-haired, "mulatto fellow."
And though he was called mulatto (a pejorative name that was given to people of mixed white
and Black ancestry) Attucks was likely of African and Native American descent.
Let's go to the thought bubble.
Crispus was at a local tavern, when an altercation between a few angry colonists and a British
officer began escalating nearby.
When the town bell rang, Crispus joined the swelling crowd to see what all the commotion
was about.
At some point, he stepped to the front of the crowd wielding a large wooden stick, joining
other armed men ready to defend themselves against the British troops.
Now, there are two versions of what happened next.
Version 1: Samuel Adams, leader of the Sons of Liberty (and namesake of the beer brand
founded many years later) says Attucks was simply leaning on his stick when he was shot
by the British and that he had posed no threat to anyone in those moments before he was killed.
Version 2: According to an enslaved man named Andrew who testified as an eye-witness, Crispus
threw himself into the mayhem striking at least two soldiers before he was struck down.
And remember an enslaved person’s testimony, has to be understood in the context of the
power dynamics at hand.
In any case, what seems to have happened is that as the colonists rained fire – well
snowballs – on British officers, somehow, whether accidentally or deliberately, a weapon
went off.
This startled both the crowd and the British soldiers.
Believing that their officer had ordered them to open fire, the rest of the soldiers started
shooting at the angry mob of colonists.
The cause of Crispus Attucks' death was two musket balls to the chest.
Thanks, thought bubble.
John Adams, the future U.S. president, who also served as one of the British soldier's
defense attorneys, according to a trial transcript said that Attucks was “a stout mulatto fellow,
whose very looks was enough to terrify any person.”
John Adams, man.
Yikes...We should note that this is part of a long history of making Black people seem
beast-like to justify the violence that was used against them.
Little did Adams know, however, Attucks would emerge as one of the most significant figures
in the war, ultimately becoming a symbol of Black patriotism and sacrifice.
There were several other Black Americans who played a part in other pivotal moments during
the war.
For example, Peter Salem, Seasor (sEE-sOR), Pharaoh, Salem Poor, and Barzillai Lew (bAR-zill-EYE
LOO) served on the American side during the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775.
The Americans actually lost that battle, but one in which they inflicted significant casualties
on the British which gave them the confidence that they indeed could go toe to toe with
their royal adversaries.
But as we’ve said, Black people fighting for the American forces, wasn’t always a
given.
At first, the Commander in Chief of this whole thing, George Washington, didn’t allow Black
men to serve in the military; because well--from his perspective-- giving weapons to thousands
of enslaved Black men and having them fight alongside the men who enslaved them, didn’t
seem like the smartest idea.
But, as it became clear that the colonists' reservoir of white manpower was dwindling,
he quickly changed his mind.
Unfortunately for Washington, fighting for the British, was a more compelling prospect
for the majority of Black people.
On November 7, 1775, Royal Governor Lord Dunmore promised freedom to enslaved Black people
if they ran away from their Virginia enslavers and fought for the British in the war.
Dunmore's Proclamation announced martial law in the colony, declaring: "all indentured
servants, Negroes, or others (appertaining to rebels)...free, that are able and willing
to bear arms, they joining his Majesty's troops, as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing
this Colony to a proper dignity."
The proclamation sparked outrage in the colony and ignited a fierce rebuke from the colonists.
But, even though Dunmore was hoping to receive droves of men anxious to jump into battle,
historian Woody Holton tells us that, "half of those [who] joined him and survived the
war were women and children."
The Ethiopian Regiment, as Lord Dunmore’s military unit would be called, was composed
of around 300 Black men who fled their enslavers in Virginia.
Unfortunately, this unit went on to lose the only major battle they fought: The Battle
of Great Bridge on December 9, 1775.
Still, this unit of Black soldiers fighting for the British against the slave-holding
colonists had profound symbolic importance.
One significant result, was that it inspired many more enslaved people to run away...
The British though, weren’t the only ones to employ this tactic: In 1778, Rhode Island
declared that they would allow both free and enslaved Black Americans to participate in
the war, promising freedom to enslaved men who would join them.
Consisting of only 130 men, this regiment was pretty small, but their service was hailed
widely.
You see, for many Black people, particularly those who were enslaved, who you fought for
during the Revolution was less about allegiance to any particular side, and more a calculation
about your best opportunity for freedom.
According to historian Benjamin Quarles, "the Negro's role in the Revolution can be best
understood by realizing that his major loyalty was not to a place nor to people, but to a
principle."
No matter which side they were fighting for, what enslaved people hoped to prove was that
they were just as worthy of freedom, as those who were fighting alongside them.
And this idea of Black people using military service as a means of legitimating their claim
and right to freedom, is something we’ll see come up again and again throughout American
history.
In the midst of all of the rhetoric about "liberty and justice for all," what became
clear to many is that this revolution was largely intended for /white/ colonists' independence.
The emancipation of all enslaved Black people wouldn’t occur for another 80 years.
What’s more, losing the war nullified any promises the British had made to many Black
people about gaining their freedom.
And many of them faced re-enslavement after the end of the war.
The British retreat left black people in an incredibly vulnerable position.
Runaways were prevented from gaining passage on British ships and were meant to be returned
to the custody of American officials.
There were many, however, that did make it onto British ships, though they weren’t
necessarily destined for freedom.
Around 15,000 Black loyalists ended up in places like Australia, Sierra Leone, Canada,
England, Jamaica, and the Bahamas.
And despite the promises that had been made, some of these Black passengers were resold
into slavery in other British Colonies.
Unfortunately, the American Revolution did not result in large-scale freedom for Black
people in America as it did for their white counterparts.
And only a relative few were granted the freedom they fought for and had been promised.
Without Black people’s contributions on either side, the war would have looked fundamentally
different.
Black participation in the American Revolution would not be the last time Black men would
fight alongside white men in wartime even when they weren’t sure that they would be
allowed to reap the benefits of victory.
And as I mentioned before, we’ll see that military service and the prospect of freedom
for Black people back home has a long complicated relationship throughout American history,
and we’ll learn more about that soon.
Thanks for watching.
I'll see you next time.
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