AFRICAN AMERICAN FIGHT FOR FREEDOM |
| Unlike other Americans, African Americans risked their lives, not only in the battles of the American Revolutionary and Civil Wars, but in a personal struggle out of slavery as well. The following articles, images and documents chronicle the back fight for freedom from 1776-1865. |
American Revolutionary War, 1776-1781 |
| At the start of the American Revolutionary War, many African Americans were outlawed from serving in the Continental Army as many whites were afraid of arming black people and freeing many slaves in the South to fight. However, black men did participate in the first well-known battles such as the Boston Massacre in 1770, where Crispus Attucks was the first black man to give his life for American freedom from Great Britain. In April 1775, black men also fought in the battles of Concord and Lexington where Peter Salem (pictured below) was a Minuteman from Framingham, Massachusetts and became one of the great heroes of the American RevolutionaryWar. |
|
