Revolutionary War: The Role Of African Americans

Throughout history African Americans have had is bad in the United States. First they went through slavery which lasted about two hundred year and was ended around the Civil War which was in the 1860s-1870s. Next after they went through slavery they went through the law of Jim Crow that started after the Civil War which stated, “Separate but Equal”, and that was not the case because African Americans were still treated as second class citizens. After about ninety years around the 1960s Dr. Martin Luther King came on the scene with the civil rights and helped abolish the Jim Crow. Things were good for African Americans for about ten years or so, and then Nixon become president and started a war on drugs. This war was not meant for drugs, it was meant for African Americans. They felt the force that was brought on due to the war on drugs because it was a way to oppress the like in the past. And once again black people were second class citizens.

African Americans viewed themselves as beneficial and important citizens of America, and not just when it came to wanting to fight in the war. Understandably, they were offended and upset when Lincoln and the federal government proposed sending them all, slave and nonslave alike, to a colony in Central America, and they felt that the needs of the nation at large prevented them from being able to leave without helping their fellow countrymen however they could, using their constitutional right of freedom of assembly to meet together and come up with a resolution explaining their position and the reasoning for it (Doc. B). Following the war, African Americans were highly interested in participating in the formation of the new state constitutions and governments for the Reconstruction period. In Virginia, African Americans came together, similar to the ones in New York, asserting their opinion and ideology that all men in the state should have equal rights, namely suffrage and the other rights the Declaration of Independence had promised citizens of the United States, since they were now free men and therefore should have the same

During the time of the Revolutionary War, the pressure between Great Britain and the 13 Northern America colonies were fighting to regain independence. Thus, African-Americans had the choice to join in and be able to gain independence and freedom from their white supporters. Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens wanted to give them that chance of having freedom and wanted to create large troops of Africans who would fight with the Patriots in exchange for their freedom. Eventually, The African-Americans adjusted as the belief of abolishment became more acceptable to those blacks willing to help the USA in the revolution against Britain. Again, it was hard for African-Americans to achieve independence, they had to fight for their freedom throughout

The foundation for black participation in the Civil War began more than a hundred years before the outbreak of the war. Blacks in America had been in bondage since early colonial times. In 1776, when Jefferson proclaimed mankind 's inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the institution of slavery had become firmly established in America. Blacks worked in the tobacco fields of Virginia, in the rice fields of South Carolina, and toiled in small farms and shops in the North. Foner and Mahoney report in A House Divided, America in the Age of Lincoln that, "In 1776, slaves composed forty percent of the population of the colonies from Maryland south to Georgia, but well below ten percent in the colonies to the

Have you ever fought for something you believed in? There was a war where many states that were fighting for their rights and what they believed in. They all had different opinions, but many states fought together to become stronger. Texans fought in the Civil War because their love for Texas and their family, for states’ rights, and to protect the slaves.

Women, African Americans, and foreigners all had a role in the American Revolution. During the revolution, many white, American colonists were away fighting for America’s freedom. Help in the war effort was not limited to those individuals, however. Women, African Americans, and foreigners all helped out. According to “American Athenas: Women in the Revolution” by Tina Ann Nguyen, “Despite their low positions in society, women did participate” (Document 2). This explicitly informs the reader that women participated in the revolution. Regarding African Americans’, in “The Revolution’s Black Soldiers”, Robert Selig includes, “During the winter of 1777-78, dozens of black Virginians served in every one of the state regiments, freezing, starving and dying at Valley Forge” (Document 5). Selig’s words provides the readers with information about some African Americans who were in Virginia’s regiments.

The American Revolution resonated with all classes of society, as it stood to divide a nation’s loyalties and recreate the existing fabric of society. During the 1770s to mid 1780s, no group living in the British American colonies was left unaffected. For blacks enslaved in America, the war presented the fleeting possibility of freedom in a nation that was still dependent on an economic structure of oppression and bondage. For those blacks that were free, they chose their alliances wisely in hopes of gaining economic opportunities and improving their status in the American colonies. The American Negroes, whether free or enslaved, could be found on either side of the battlefront. They took on many different roles, some fighting on the

Many African Americans got freedom and many didn’t which resulted in them being enslaved again or dying. The Revolutionary War caused too many deaths and unfair

There were several events that lead to the American Civil War. The Northern states wanted African Americans to be free from slavery, while the Southern states wanted to continue owning them. The Northern states didn’t need slaves for their economy to thrive, as opposed to the Southern states, where their economy relied heavily on the slave’s free labor. Both sides also argued on whether or not the newly acquired states should be free states or slave states, but since the North’s population growth exceeded the South’s, they had more power in the government. The Northern sates had most of the electoral votes and that

Paul Cuffe, an African American, helped supply the American colonies during the American Revolution, smuggling goods past British patrol ships. Lemuel Haynes served as a minuteman during the American Revolution, fighting at the siege of Boston and at Fort Ticonderoga. It wasn't until Valley Forge and the large scale desertion of the Continental Army that Washington was forced by circumstances to re-think his views and take African-Americans into his army.

Early in the history of the colonies, slavery was widely accepted as well as applauded. Slaves were a key part in the development of the country and they were a very important part in the revolutionary war. Slaves fought on both sides of the revolution, it is estimated at nearly 5000 thousand men. The American Revolution was very important as it brought about different views and ideas. "In much of the North, by contrast, the combination of Revolutionary sentiment and evangelical Christian fervor helped spread antislavery sentiments widely through society" (Brinkley 120). The American Revolution had a huge impact on Northern states; antislavery movement swept the states. The slave trade was outlawed in several states and laws were changed regarding freeing slaves.

In the history of the United States, African Americans have always been discriminated against. When Africans first came to America, they were taken against their will and forced to work as laborers. They became slaves to the rich, greedy, lazy Americans. They were given no pay and often badly whipped and beaten. African Americans fought for their freedom, and up until the Civil War it was never given to them. When the Civil War began, they wanted to take part in fighting to free all slaves. Their opportunity to be soldiers and fight along side white men equally did not come easily, but eventually African Americans proved themselves able to withstand the heat of battle and fight as true American heroes.

About 180,000 African American people comprised 163 units that served in the Union Army, during the time of the Civil War, and many more African American people had served in the Union Navy. Both the free African-Americans and the runaway slaves had joined the fight. On the date of July 17, in the year of 1862, the U. S. Congress had passed two very important acts that would allow the enlistment of many African Americans, but the official enrollment had occurred only after the September, 1862, issuance of the, Emancipation Proclamation. In general, most white soldiers and officers, had believed that most of the black men, who had served in the Civil War, lacked the courage, and the will to fight

The impact of African Americans during the American Revolution could be noted on both sides of the War. This is based on their want for freedom. Many took advantage of the revolutionary crisis and

In 1865, when the civil war ended in America and slavery was abolished, the African American population in the South faced many challenges related to their new found freedom. Following the post-Civil War Reconstruction period, white supremacy resurfaced in the South (A&E Television, 2015). Beginning in the early 1900s through 1970 there was a mass exodus of African American 's from South to North America. Although some African American 's were known to have moved from the South as early as 1850, there were two major waves during the 1900s (A&E, 2015; Gates, Jr., 2013).