Posted on 12/08/2012 7:29:34 AM PST by Pharmboy
One of the few accomplishments of a do nothing Congress may be to help a Connecticut man who for decades has tried to win recognition of the Revolutionary Wars black soldiers.
The Senate approved a bill this week that would authorize $631 billion in Pentagon spending for a vast array of purposes and it would approve the transfer of federal land in the heart of Washington D.C. toa group that wants to build a new memorial to black Revolutionary War soldiers and sailors.
The memorial amendment was sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. This would not be a memorial to individuals or to color, but to the concept of freedom, said Plainville native Maurice Barboza, founder of Liberty Fund D.C. Barbozas campaign to honor more than 5,000 slaves and freed blacks who helped the United States win independence from Great Britain is a long story of tenacity, politics, race and betrayal.
Maurice Barboza, left, of Plainville, watches as Mayor Bill Euille of Alexandria, Va., signs that citys resolution concerning its black Revolutionary War fighters.
Most of those who would be honored came from New England, and at least 820 from Connecticut.
Barbozas quest began in 1978 when he went to the National Archives to look up information on a great, great grandfather who fought in the Civil War. As he conducted his research, Barboza, who is African American, discovered he had another ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War.
Armed with this information, Barboza went to his aunt, who also lived in Plainville, to persuade her to join the Daughters of the American Revolution.
His aunt, Lina Santos Ferguson, was hesitant to join the DAR because in 1939 the organization had barred black contralto Marian Anderson from singing in their hall.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehartfordguardian.com ...
Lets honor them all...Isn’t it RACIST to only honor black ones?
The RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington ping list
The RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington ping list
I think this would be good for several reasons, most of them having to do with educating all Americans about the American blacks role on the Patriot side. I believe there were 5,000 who served on our side.
The next time anyone encounters controversy regarding black Confederates soldiers slave or free, one need only refer them to Connecticut history for a remarkably uncontroverted example of exactly the same thing.
LMAO-—Why not
We are still supporting green energy that is going broke, wny not some sort of Memorial to all the Black soldiers of the Revolution.
Where will they put the Irish Memorial and the German and French Memorials?
All we have to do is print a little more money.
Wow. That's a long-standing grudge to carry. No wonder we can't get past race in this country.
Ummmmm.....they fought on the other side, too. Probably more of them with the British.
Ummmm...and so did some white Americans too. Lots of them...
Ummmmmm...so shouldn’t we just have a monument to all of them? There were Indians on both sides, too. We probably had some Chinese, too.
See post # 5...
It is racist of them if they don’t..
To clarify, all of the Revolutionary War’s heroes should be honored, not merely those melanometrically cited..
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