Posted on 07/19/2006 7:28:41 PM PDT by Pharmboy
BOSTON --Thousands of black men fought for American independence during the Revolutionary War, yet their contributions to the nation's freedom are for the most part unrecognized and rarely appear in modern history books.
Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the Sons of the American Revolution are hoping to change that by undertaking an ambitious project to identify those soldiers, and then find their descendants.
"My first goal with this project is to enhance the awareness of the American public of the role of African-Americans in the struggle for freedom in this country," said Gates, director of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard.
"Plus, my concern is that there are many people walking around, like me, who had no idea that I had an ancestor who fought in the Revolution," he said.
It was that revelation which inspired Gates to launch the project.
Gates learned of his family history during filming of the PBS documentary series "African American Lives," which used DNA testing and genealogical research to investigate the ancestry of notable black Americans.
Genealogist Jane Ailes revealed to Gates -- executive producer of the series that first aired in February -- that his fifth great-grandfather on his mother's side was John Redman, a farmer from Williamsport, Va. (now part of West Virginia), who for four years fought with the 1st Virginia Light Dragoons during the Revolution.
Joseph W. Dooley, the chairman of the Sons of the American Revolution's membership committee, wants to identify as many people as possible who contributed to the Revolutionary War effort whose sacrifices "are not appreciated and not recognized," he said. Though he's starting with blacks, he envisions future projects to track the contributions of women and Native
An estimated 5,000 blacks fought for independence during the Revolution.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Another hi-jacked thread alert!
Who are the Little Bills, relatives? Glover was the commander of the troops that ferried Washington’s army, not an actual boatman pulling an oar.
“There was NO threat of emancipation that was a Slaver lie.”
Several years before the war, a bill to abolish slavery failed in the Virginia State Legislature by one vote.
One vote.
“Abolitionists were NEVER in charge of the federal government even after the War started.”
Just another indication that slavery was about fourth or fifth down on the list of reasons for the war.
Old news for me. I knew Blacks were involved in American wars from the Revolution, Civil War, and World War II. There were Blacks in the Roman Empire and many were Centurions, generals, rich people, senators, and even emperors. Oh yeah, there were Black people in Asia, mainly Southeast Asia. There were Black emperors in China, mostly in the Shang Dynasty.
All righty then...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.