Find what you need to succeed.
VALUE
Black Americans in the Revolutionary Era
A Brief History with DocumentsFirst Edition| ©2009 Woody Holton
In this fresh look at liberty and freedom in the Revolutionary era from the perspective of black Americans, Woody Holton recounts the experiences of slaves who seized freedom by joining the British as well as those — slave and free — who served in Patriot military forces. Holton’s introduction exami...
In this fresh look at liberty and freedom in the Revolutionary era from the perspective of black Americans, Woody Holton recounts the experiences of slaves who seized freedom by joining the British as well as those — slave and free — who served in Patriot military forces. Holton’s introduction examines the conditions of black American life on the eve of colonial independence and the ways in which Revolutionary rhetoric about liberty provided African Americans with the language and inspiration for advancing their cause. Despite the rhetoric, however, most black Americans remained enslaved after the Revolution. The introduction outlines ways African Americans influenced the course of the Revolution and continued to be affected by its aftermath. Amplifying these themes are nearly forty documents — including personal narratives, petitions, letters, poems, advertisements, pension applications, and images — that testify to the diverse goals and actions of African Americans during the Revolutionary era. Document headnotes and annotations, a chronology, questions for consideration, a selected bibliography, and index offer additional pedagogical support.
Read more
E-book
from
C$10.99
ISBN:9781319241643
Bookmark, search, and highlight our PDF-style e-books.
Retail:C$10.99
Subscribe until 07/23/2021
Retail:C$15.99
Paperback
C$23.99
ISBN:9780312413590
Read and study old-school with our bound texts.
Retail:C$23.99
Wholesale:C$18.93

In this fresh look at liberty and freedom in the Revolutionary era from the perspective of black Americans, Woody Holton recounts the experiences of slaves who seized freedom by joining the British as well as those — slave and free — who served in Patriot military forces. Holton’s introduction examines the conditions of black American life on the eve of colonial independence and the ways in which Revolutionary rhetoric about liberty provided African Americans with the language and inspiration for advancing their cause. Despite the rhetoric, however, most black Americans remained enslaved after the Revolution. The introduction outlines ways African Americans influenced the course of the Revolution and continued to be affected by its aftermath. Amplifying these themes are nearly forty documents — including personal narratives, petitions, letters, poems, advertisements, pension applications, and images — that testify to the diverse goals and actions of African Americans during the Revolutionary era. Document headnotes and annotations, a chronology, questions for consideration, a selected bibliography, and index offer additional pedagogical support.
Features
New to This Edition

Black Americans in the Revolutionary Era
First Edition| ©2009
Woody Holton
Digital Options

E-book
Read online (or offline) with all the highlighting and notetaking tools you need to be successful in this course.

Black Americans in the Revolutionary Era
First Edition| 2009
Woody Holton
Table of Contents
Foreword
Preface
PART ONE: Introduction
Black Americans on the Eve of White Independence
Black Americans and the Coming of the American Revolution
African Americans in the Revolutionary War
Challenging Slavery
Revolutionary Legacies
PART TWO: The Documents
Chapter 1: Black Americans and the Coming of the American Revolution, 1750–1775
- Fugitive Slave Advertisements, 1750–1774
- Briton Hammon, A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings, and Surprising Deliverance, of Briton Hammon, A Negro Man, 1760
- James Otis, The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved, 1764
- Landon Carter, Plantation Diary, March 22, 1770
- "Felix," Petition to Governor, Council, and House of Representatives of Massachusetts, January 6, 1773
- Massachusetts African Americans, Petition to Local Representatives, April 20, 1773
- Patrick Henry, Letter to Robert Pleasants, January 18, 1773
- Phillis Wheatley, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, 1773
On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield
On Being Brought from Africa to America
- Phillis Wheatley, Letter to Samsom Occom, February 11, 1774
Chapter 2: African Americans in the Revolutionary War, 1775–1783
- Andrew Estave, Letter in the Virginia Gazette, July 20, 1775
- John Murray, Lord Dunmore, A Proclamation, November 7, 1775
- Wartime Fugitive Slave Advertisements, 1776–1782
- Extract of a Letter from Monmouth County, June 21, 1780
- Sergeant Murphy Steele, Deposition Reporting a Supernatural Encounter, August 16, 1781
- John Trumbull, Battle of Bunker’s Hill, 1786
- Jacob Francis, Revolutionary War Pension Application, 1836
Chapter 3: Challenging Slavery, 1776–1787
- Thomas Jefferson, Original Rough Draft of the Declaration of Independence, 1776
- New Hampshire Slaves, Freedom Petition, November 12, 1779
- Free Blacks in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, Petition against Taxation without Representation, February 10, 1780
- William Cushing, Charge to the Jury in the Case of Quok Walker, 1783
- Susan Sedgwick, Elizabeth Freeman, 1811
Chapter 4: Revolutionary Legacies, 1785–1855
- John Marrant, Narrative, July 18, 1785
- Citizens of Halifax County, Virginia, Petition Defending Slavery, November 10, 1785
- Prince Hall and Other "African Blacks," Petition to the Massachusetts Legislature for Return to Africa, January 4, 1787
- Free African Society, Charter, April 12, 1787
- Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1788
- Rose Fortune, 1780s?
- Benjamin Banneker and Thomas Jefferson, Exchange of Letters, August 19 and 30, 1791
- Saul, Petition to the Virginia State Legislature, October 9, 1792
- David George, An Account of the Life of Mr. David George from Sierra Leone, Africa, Given by Himself, 1793
- Boston King, Memoirs of the Life of Boston King, A Black Preachers, Written by Himself, July 4, 1796
- Freemen from North Carolina, Petition to Congress, January 23, 1797
- Prosser’s Ben, Mr. Price’s John, and Ben Woolfolk, Testimony against Gabriel, October 6, 1800
- Raphaelle Peale, Absalom Jones, 1810
- Paul Cuffee, Memoir of Captain Paul Cuffee, October 1811
- William C. Nell, Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, 1855
APPENDIXES
A Chronology of Black Americans in the Revolutionary Era
Questions for Consideration
Selected Bibliography
Index
Authors

Woody Holton
Woody Holton’s book, Abigail Adams, published by Free Press in November 2009, won the Bancroft Prize. Holton is the author of Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution (New York: Hill and Wang, 2007), a finalist for the George Washington Book Prize and the National Book Award and winner of the Virginia Literary Awards People’s Choice award. Holton, a 2008-2009 Guggenheim Fellow, has taught Early American history at the University of Richmond since the fall of 2000. He is currently an associate professor there. Among the classes he has taught are the American Revolution, Early American Women, Creating the Constitution, and Early African Americans. The Organization of American Historians awarded his first book, Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999), its prestigious Merle Curti award. Holton holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Virginia and a PhD in American History from Duke. Before he started teaching, Holton directed numerous environmental campaigns and was founding director of the environmental advocacy group “Clean Up Congress.” His articles and reviews have appeared in American Historical Review, Journal of American History, Reviews in American History, William and Mary Quarterly, Journal of Southern History, Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, and other journals. One of his articles, “Divide et Impera: The Tenth Federalist in a Wider Sphere,” was selected by a panel of distinguished scholars for reprinting in the Organization of American Historians’ Best American History Essays 2006.

Black Americans in the Revolutionary Era
First Edition| 2009
Woody Holton
Related Titles
Available Demos
Select a demo to view:

We are processing your request. Please wait...
