Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America

Chapter 4 covers the Black American experience of the Revolutionary War. Before the Revolutionary War, the concept of American patriotism was “nonexistent” because America didn’t exist. A collection of colonies, each with unique legal and social structures, were not connected by anything except a growing resentment for the overseas powers that taxed them. Although the traditional narrative of the American Revolution involves colonial white people getting enraged over unfair taxes, in reality, they were upset about another, much more ruinous economic future: There were rumors that England was about to outlaw slavery. In England at the time, slavery was not illegal, but it was also not enforceable by the law. This meant that an enslaver would not be punished for owning enslaved people, but enslaved people would not be punished for running away, nor would they be forcibly returned to their enslavers. The prospect of having expensive enslaved people taken away prompted all the colonies to resent Britain’s control even more. When fighting broke out, the British took this opportunity to conscript American soldiers from the enslaved population. This move would cripple agriculture in the colonies and bolster the British numbers. They promised to free and arm all enslaved people who escaped to join their army.