Black Patriots were

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

who sided with the colonists who opposed British rule during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

. The term "Black Patriots" includes, but is not limited to, the 5,000 or more African Americans who served in the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

and Patriot militias during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. Their counterparts on the pro-British side were known as

Black Loyalist Black Loyalists were people of African descent who sided with the Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War. In particular, the term refers to men who escaped enslavement by Patriot masters and served on the Loyalist side because of the C ...

s, African Americans who sided with the British during the American revolution. Thousands of American slaves escaped to British lines to take up their offers of freedom in exchange for military service as per Dunmore's Proclamation and the

Philipsburg Proclamation The Philipsburg Proclamation is a historical document issued by British Army General Sir Henry Clinton on 30 June 1779, intended to encourage slaves to run away and enlist in the Royal Forces. Text General Clinton issued the following proclamat ...

First Patriot martyr

Boston Massacre, 03-05-1770 - NARA - 518262

Crispus Attucks Crispus Attucks ( – March 5, 1770) was an American whaler, sailor, and stevedore of African and Native American descent, commonly regarded as the first person killed in the Boston Massacre and thus the first American killed in the Amer ...

is considered to be the first Black Patriot because he was killed in the Boston Massacre. Attucks was commemorated by his fellow Bostonians as a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

for freedom. Attucks was a whaler who was believed to be of mixed Native American and African ancestry, born in or around Framingham, Massachusetts. His death in the Boston Massacre is considered to be the first Patriot fatality of the war.

Black Patriots who served in the State Militias

The Bucks of America were an all-Black,

Massachusetts Militia This is a list of militia units of the Colony and later Commonwealth of Massachusetts. *Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts (1638) * Cogswell's Regiment of Militia (April 19, 1775) *Woodbridge's Regiment of Militia (April 20 ...

company organized in 1775 in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. This was the name given to one of two all-black units fighting for independence. There is little known of the campaign history of the Bucks company, or if they ever saw combat. It appears that they operated mainly around Boston. The Bucks of America may have acted primarily as an auxiliary police or security service, in the city, during the war. They most likely did not see action against British forces.

Black Patriots who served in the Continental Army

After the British started enticing

to serve or assist their cause in exchange for emancipation, Patriot leaders began to recruit

free people of color In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not ...

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

and other East Coast regions to serve in the

. They were promised a life of relative luxury and social mobility if they joined the war. Slaves in the American North were trying to escape the harsh treatment of the enslaved under American slavery. By joining the war, they believed they would be bettering their lives. Most of the time, Black Patriot soldiers served as individuals in a variety of predominantly white units of the

. The 1st Rhode Island Regiment, also known as "Varnum's Continentals", was a Continental Army

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

from

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. It became well known as the "Black Regiment" because, for a time, it had several companies of African-American soldiers. It is regarded as the

first African-American African-Americans are an ethnic group in the United States. The first achievements by African-Americans in diverse fields have historically marked footholds, often leading to more widespread cultural change. The shorthand phrase for this is "brea ...

military regiment, although its ranks were not exclusively African American. Captain David Humphreys' All Black, 2nd Company, of the Connecticut Continental Line, served from October 1780-November 1782. On November 27, 1780, Humphrey's Black Company was assigned to the

3rd Connecticut Regiment The 3rd Connecticut Regiment was authorized on 16 September 1776 and was organized between 1 January - April 1777 of eight companies of volunteers from the counties of Windham and Hartford in the state of Connecticut. On 3 April 1777 it was as ...

. On January 1, 1781, the Regiment was merged with the

4th Connecticut Regiment The 4th Connecticut Regiment was raised on April 27, 1775, at Hartford, Connecticut. The regiment saw action in the Invasion of Canada. After which the regiment was disbanded on December 20, 1775, and reformed on September 16, 1776, to fight ...

, re-organized into nine companies, and re-designated as the

1st Connecticut Regiment The 1st Connecticut Regiment was a unit of the Continental Army, and was involved in the American Revolutionary War. The regiment was initially formed in 1776, and was active in various forms until 1783. 1776–1780 The 1st Connecticut Regiment ...

. William "Billy" Lee was an enslaved valet of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

who served in the

and fought with the general's forces. Lee was considered to be Washington's favorite slave, and was often featured in the background of the general's portraits. Cowpens

Descendants

Famed

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

scholar and professor Henry Louis Gates is descended from John Redman, a Free Black Man who served in the

. Gates is currently working on a project to find all descendants of Black Patriots, who served in the American Revolutionary Continental Army.

Proposed national memorial

The National Liberty Monument is a proposed national memorial to be located in the capital to honor the more than 5000 enslaved and free persons of African descent who served as soldiers or sailors, or provided civilian assistance during the American Revolutionary War. The memorial is an outgrowth of a failed effort to erect a Black Revolutionary War Patriots Memorial. This was authorized in 1986, but fundraising faltered and the memorial foundation dissolved in 2005. Congress authorized the National Liberty Monument in January 2013. On September 8, 2014, the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

passed the joint resolution approving the location in the capital of a memorial to commemorate the more than 5,000 slaves and free Black people who fought for independence in the American Revolution. The joint resolution would approve the location of a commemorative work to honor the more than 5000 slaves and free black persons who fought in the American Revolution.

Notable Black Patriots

Prince Hall Prince Hall (1807) was an American abolitionist and leader in the free black community in Boston. He founded Prince Hall Freemasonry and lobbied for education rights for African American children. He was also active in the back-to-Africa moveme ...

* Toby Gilmore * Alexander Ames *

* Charles Bowles * Jeffrey Brace * Joseph Brown *

Seymour Burr Seymour Burr (1754/1762–1837) was an African-American slave in the Connecticut Colony in the North American British Colonies and United States. Owned by the brother of Colonel Aaron Burr, who was also named Seymour, he was known only as Seymour ...

* Wentworth Cheswell * Titus Coburn * Joseph Louis Cook * Grant Cooper *

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three ...

* Paul Cuffee * Austin Dabney * James Armistead Lafayette * Caesar Dickenson * Charlestown Eaads * James Easton * Prince Estabrook * William Flora * Asaba Grosvenor * Blaney Grusha *

Jude Hall Jude (Judas) Hall was an African-American soldier in the American Revolutionary War. He served from 1775 to 1783, thus earning his freedom from slavery. After the war, he married and settled in Exeter, New Hampshire, where his homestead is still ...

* Primus Hall * Cuff Haynes *

Lemuel Haynes Lemuel Haynes (July 18, 1753 – September 28, 1833) was an American clergyman. A veteran of the American Revolution, Haynes was the first black man in the United States to be ordained as a minister. Haynes was a native of West Hartford, Conne ...

* Henry Hill * Cato Howe * Agrippa Hull * Jeremy Jonah * Lambert Latham * Cato Mead * Jack Little *

Barzillai Lew Barzillai Lew (November 5, 1743 January 18, 1822) was an African-American soldier who served with distinction during the American Revolutionary War. Family history Barzillai Lew's story began with Primus Lew of Groton, Massachusetts (a former ser ...

* Salem Poor * James Robinson * Silas Royal *

Peter Salem Peter Salem (October 1, 1750 – August 16, 1816)BlackPast.org
"Salem, Peter" was an < ...

* Prince Simbo * Phillis Wheatley *

Prince Whipple Prince Whipple (1750–1796) was an African American slave and later freedman. He was a soldier and a bodyguard during the American Revolution under his enslaver General William Whipple of the New Hampshire Militia who granted him his freedom aft ...

* Bosson Wright

Bibliography

* Guthrie, James M. ''Camp-fires of the Afro-American; Or, The Colored Man as a Patriot, Soldier, Sailor, and Hero, in the Cause of Free America'', 1899 * Moore, George Henry. ''Historical notes on the employment of Negroes in the American Army of the Revolution'', 186

* William Cooper Nell, Nell, William Cooper. '' The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, With Sketches of Several Distinguished Colored Persons: To Which Is Added a Brief Survey of the Condition And Prospects of Colored Americans''. Boston: Robert F. Wallcut, 1855. * Wilson, Joseph Thomas. ''The Black Phalanx: A History of the Negro Soldiers of the United States in the Wars of 1775-1812, 1861-'65'', 1890

References

External links

Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Patriot (American Revolution) Pre-emancipation African-American history African Americans in the American Revolution Black Patriots