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Life During the American Revolution: Resources for Students and Educators: Black Experience of the American Revolution

This guide offers research tips and resource suggestions for educators and students interested in the American Revolution.

                                                                    Loyalist and Patriot forces engaged in a battle, Black man firing a gun from a hill

NYPL Digital Collections ID: 497437

Introduction

Thousands of free and enslaved Black people fought on both sides of the American Revolution, but their motivations were more complicated than those of their white counterparts. 

Lord Dunmore, formerly the royal governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation offering freedom to enslaved persons of rebels who fled to British custody. The British offer of freedom was powerfully persuasive, and inspired many to attempt escape from slavery to join up with the British.

According to Maya Jasanoff in her book Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World, approximately 20,000 Black enslaved men joined the British during the American Revolution. Read more about Black Loyalists in NYPL's research guide, Researching Ancestors who were Loyalists in the Revolutionary War

Thousands more fought for the Continental Army, voluntarily or under duress, playing an extensive role in the War of Independence.

Examples of Primary Sources

                                                                         Benjamin Banneker's letter to Thomas Jefferson, 1776, available as an electronic resource onsite at NYPL and through Library of Congress digital collections.Men gathered around Benjamin Banneker at a table showing a map

  Narrative of Boyrereau Brinch An Enslaved African American in the Revolutionary Army, 1777-1783, available online through americainclass.org.

  The narrative of James Roberts, soldier in the Revolutionary War and at the Battle of New Orleans, available onsite at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, which is a research branch of the New York Public Library.

  Lord Dunmore's Proclamation, 1775, available online through the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. 

Benjamin Rush, An Address to the Inhabitants of the British Settlements in America upon Slave-Keeping, 1773available as an electronic resource onsite at NYPL.

 

NYPL Digital Collections ID: 1692836 

Primary Source Document: Declaration of Independence

There was a deep inconsistency between the colonists' demand for their own liberty and the continuation of slavery. Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence with an anti-slavery passage, which was ultimately removed from the final document, is available through NYPL Digital Collections. 

Image of Declaration of Independence

                                    NYPL Digital Collections: psnypl_mss_1228

 

More Archival Collections

To locate primary sources, consider archives with specialized collections.

Or, search ArchiveGrid for archival collections of more than 1,400 institutions including libraries, museums, and historical societies. 

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Front of Schomburg Center building

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Contact the Schomburg Center with your research questions at schomburgreference@nypl.org

Subject Search Terms and Recommended Titles

Find resources in the NYPL Research Catalog by keyword searches or try the following subjects:

African American soldiers -- History -- 18th century

United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- African Americans

Slavery -- United States -- History -- 18th century

Want to find these books at a library near you? Try searching WorldCat!