Black Patriots were

African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...

who sided with the colonists who opposed British rule during the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

. 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 representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

and Patriot

militias A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or serve ...

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 the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

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

Black Loyalist Black Loyalists were people of African descent who sided with Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War. In particular, the term referred to men enslaved by Patriots who served on the Loyalist side because of the Crown's guarantee of fr ...

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 Virginia Governor

Dunmore's Proclamation Dunmore's Proclamation is a historical document signed on November 7, 1775, by John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, Colonial government in the Thirteen Colonies, royal governor of the British colony of Virginia. The proclamation declared martial law ...

of 1775, promising freedom to Blacks who deserted their Patriot masters and fought for the British and the 1779

Philipsburg Proclamation The Philipsburg Proclamation was issued by British Army General Sir Henry Clinton on 30 June 1779 to encourage slaves to run away and enlist in the Royal Forces. The proclamation, now a historical document, followed after Dunmore's Proclamation ...

, which declared the freedom all Blacks enslaved by Patriots who came over to the British side, whether or not they fought.

First Patriot martyr

Crispus Attucks Crispus Attucks ( – March 5, 1770) was an American whaler, sailor, and stevedore of African and Native American descent who is traditionally regarded as the first person killed in the Boston Massacre, and as a result the first American kil ...

is considered to be the first Black Patriot because he was killed in the

Boston Massacre The Boston Massacre, known in Great Britain as the Incident on King Street, was a confrontation, on March 5, 1770, during the American Revolution in Boston in what was then the colonial-era Province of Massachusetts Bay. In the confrontati ...

. Attucks was commemorated by his fellow Bostonians as a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, 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 external party. In ...

for freedom. Attucks was a whaler who was believed to be of mixed Native American and African ancestry, born in or around

Framingham, Massachusetts Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston ...

. His death in the Boston Massacre is considered to be the first Patriot fatality of the Revolution.

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 ...

company organized in 1775 in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. 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 Auxiliary police, also called volunteer police, reserve police, assistant police, civil guards, or special police, are usually the part-time reserves of a regular police force. They may be unpaid volunteers or paid members of the police servic ...

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 enslaved

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 (; ) were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not enslaved. However, the term also applied to people born free who we ...

New England New England is a region consisting of 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 (state), New York to the west and by the ...

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 harsh treatment of their servitude. 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, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

from

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

. 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 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, re-organized into nine companies, and re-designated as the 1st Connecticut Regiment. William "Billy" Lee was an enslaved valet of

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

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,

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

scholar and professor

Henry Louis Gates Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainmen ...

is descended from John Redman, a free African American 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 is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

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 (December 7, 1807) was an American Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist and leader in the Free negro, free black community in Boston. He founded Prince Hall Freemasonry and lobbied for Right to education, education rights ...

* Toby Gilmore * Alexander Ames *

* Charles Bowles * Jeffrey Brace * Joseph Brown *

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

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

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

Paul Cuffee Paul Cuffe, also known as Paul Cuffee (January 17, 1759 – September 7, 1817) was an African American and Wampanoag businessman, Whaling in the United States, whaler and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist. Born Free negro, free int ...

* Austin Dabney * James Armistead Lafayette * Caesar Dickenson * Charlestown Eaads * James Easton * Prince Estabrook * William Flora * Asaba Grosvenor * Blaney Grusha * Jude Hall * 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, Connec ...

Henry Hill Henry Hill Jr. (June 11, 1943 – June 12, 2012) was an American mobster who was associated with the Lucchese crime family of New York City from 1955 until 1980, when he was arrested on narcotics charges and became an FBI informant. Hill testi ...

* Cato Howe * Agrippa Hull * Jeremy Jonah * Lambert Latham *

Cato Mead Cato Mead (1846; also spelled Meed) is the only known Black Patriot (American Revolutionary War veteran) buried west of the Mississippi River. Mead is buried in or near Montrose Cemetery in Montrose, Iowa. According to historian Barbara MacLeish, ...

* 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 ...

* Jack Peterson (American Patriot) *

Salem Poor Salem Poor (c. 1747–1802) was an enslaved African-American man who purchased his freedom in 1769, became a soldier in 1775. He was involved in the American Revolutionary War, particularly in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Early life Salem Poor wa ...

* James Robinson * Silas Royal *

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

* Prince Simbo *

Phillis Wheatley Phillis Wheatley Peters, also spelled Phyllis and Wheatly ( – December 5, 1784), was an American writer who is considered the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Gates Jr., Henry Louis, ''Trials of Phillis Wheatley: ...

* Prince Whipple * Bosson Wright

References

External links

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