On Black History Month

I have never been fond of hyphenated Americans, of any kind. If you are a citizen of this country, born or naturalized, you are AMERICAN, period.


That said, it is February, and hence it is again Black History Month. Another designation I have never been happy with. Why not American History month? Ah well, I be tiltin at windmills as they say. So, here it is, yet another Black History Month. This year’s theme is the Civil War and the struggle for Black Self-Determination. Lots of stuff out there on that, some of it good, some of it not so much. At least they actually go beyond the 1960s! I covered on this blog just which political party it truly was that subjugated the African American peoples in this country so I don’t want to rehash all that. What I do want to do is go back much farther than the Civil War.

In fact, let’s go back to the beginning of the country.

With the meteoric rise of the Tea Party movement in this country over the last year plus the main stream media (what I call the Democrat Party Propaganda department, or DPPD) has tried in vain to cast the Tea Party movement as racist, bigoted, etc. We hear a lot of black folks on the DPPD stations lamenting how they can’t “identify” with the founders of this country. There is a really good reason for that – because they have been taught a LIE. The real and significant contribution of African Americans in the founding of this country has been DELIBERATELY omitted from the teaching of History in our schools.

I have been a History buff from my early days in High School. I was lucky enough to have an American History teacher that LOVED this country. He was not born here but came here with his parents from Germany to escape Hitler. He loved this country more than a lot of people that are born here and tend to take it for granted. It was this teacher that taught me to seek the truth of History.

I do not have enough space here to cover the entire history, but I hope that these highlights will peak your interest and you will investigate further. As an aside, if you ever get the chance to get to Washington DC be sure to visit the National Archives and The Library of Congress. In my not so humble opinion the two most important institutions in this country!

So, let us begin with the name William Nell. How many of you have heard of him? No? William Nell was a historian and an award winning black scholar in Boston in the 1830s. He studied law and became one of the first African Americans to hold a post in the federal government. He also was an author. In 1855 he wrote The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution. I’d be willing to bet you’ve never heard of it. It is well worth the read. You might even be able to find it on Amazon.com.

So, to highlight a few of those early Patriots…

James Armistead Lafayette:

James Armistead was one of the most important American spies during the Revolutionary war. He was a slave in Virginia and after the siege of Richmond in 1781 he asked his master, William Armistead, for permission to serve in the cause of American independence. Permission was granted and James joined with General Marquis de Lafayette in the fight for America. General Lafayette dispatched Armistead to the camp of American traitor Benedict Arnold to pose as an escaped slave looking for work. Arnold accepted him and put him to work in the camp, thus placing him near British troops and commanders. Included in this was British Commander-in-chief, Lord Cornwallis. Ironically, Cornwallis so trusted Armistead he employed him to spy on the Americans, thus Armistead became a double agent, feeding correct information to the Americans and false information to the British. It was Armistead’s information that Cornwallis planned to move the British troops that allowed the Americans to defeat the British at the Battle of Yorktown.

Have you seen the painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware? Who hasn’t, right? Notice the man at the oar – a black man. Many have identified that man as Prince Whipple. Though, technically, Prince Whipple did not cross the river with Washington in the manner depicted in that painting, he represented the thousands and thousands of African Americans who did fight for American Independence. Prince Whipple fought in the Battle of Saratoga in 1777 and the Battle of Rhode Island in 1778. He directly attended General Washington and his staff throughout the Revolution, serving as a soldier and aide at the highest levels.

Peter Salem (1750 – 1816)

Peter Salem was a member of the Massachusetts Minutemen and was involved in a number of important battles, including the battles of Bunker Hill, Concord, and Saratoga (the first American victory of the Revolution). However, it was in the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, that he gained notoriety. After the battles of Lexington and Concord, American troops from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island assembled at Boston to confront the 5,000 British troops stationed there. The outmanned American forces engaged the British outside the city. The Americans were winning the conflict until they began running out of ammunition. With the Americans near defeat, British commander Major John Pitcairn (who had earlier led the British forces against the Americans at Lexington) mounted the hill and shouted, “The day is ours!” whereupon Salem promptly shot him, sending the British troops into confusion and allowing the Americans to escape safely. Peter Salem was honored before General Washington for his soldierly act.

In fact, a stone monument was erected to Peter Salem at Framingham, Massachusetts, in 1882; and Salem is pictured in the famous painting of John Trumbull titled, “The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill.”

These are but a few of the early patriots of the American Revolution. Let’s look beyond just the military aspect…

Richard Allen (1760 – 1831)

Richard Allen was a man of many firsts. The first black author to gain a copyright, the first black bishop in the United States and the first black person to eulogize an American president. Perhaps most notably, Allen founded one of the most revered institutions in the African-American community: the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. But there was much more to this man. I can’t do him justice in this short space. I you want to know more I highly recommend the book by Richard S Newman titled Freedom’s Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church and the Black Founding Fathers.

So, those are but a few of the thousands. I hope I have at least peaked your curiosity. If you were never taught about these people and are angry, do something constructive with that anger. Go to your local school board and demand to know why they are censoring history. And last but certainly not least.. keep reading. Don’t take my word on this information. Do your own homework. READ everything you can get. Especially read the books I mentioned above.

Next time.. the TRUTH about the 3/5ths clause.. from the source – the Federalist Papers. Another source I strongly recommend you read!