@cortz#9 @Allochronian @Historyman 14 --- More! This time on African Americans of the Revolution!
Reputations of Pre-Secession (Pre-POD) Individuals: Part 4 - African Americans of the American War of Independence, Part 1
^^^ Crispus Attucks --- C. 1723-1770 --- Of African and Native-American descent, his ethnicity is a topic of much debate, since he was described as being African, Indian, and Mulatto. Sources differ on whether he was a freedman or an escaped slave, with some records indicating a man with the same first name having ran away from his master in Massachusetts, with a reward for his capture. What is known was that he worked as a sailor and a longshoreman, spending most of his life at sea and traveling the eastern seaboard as far south as the Bahamas. As one of the many waterfront men in Boston that were organized into groups by Patriots in defiance of British troops garrisoned in Boston, Crispus Attuck was part of the crowd that was fired on in the Boston Massacre. Witnesses say he led a crowd to the Customs House on King Street, daring the soldiers there to fire back on the crowd, throwing objects at them. He is considered to be the first man to die in the crowd and by extension the first man to die in the American War of Independence.
Union --- During the trial in which John Adams successfully defended the British soldiers charged with firing on the crowd (a fact that Revaunchist scholars have tried to play down with little success), he charged Attucks with having "undertaken to be the hero of the night, having precipitated a conflict by his mad behavior." In the years just before the outbreak of the War of Secession, abolitionists in the North advocating for the freedom of slaves lauded Crispus Attucks as a hero of the Revolution and of the United States. With the United States defeat in the war the cause for abolition waned, but the fight to keep Crispus Attucks' legacy alive did not in the state of Massachusetts nor in Boston. Old school abolitionists and freed blacks in New England doggedly attempted to keep the histories of Black-Americans alive in the face of growing Pro-German revaunchism in the aftermath of the Second Mexican War. Boston schools still tell the stories of the Boston Massacre and Crispus' role in the event and he was still considered a hero in his local area well into the Great Wars years. Outside of the New England area however his legacy too much longer to sink in and it wasn't until after GWII that his story began to be widely told.
Confederacy --- In the south, when the story of Crispus Attucks is talked about is mocked and diminished, especially in regards to John Adams' testimony of Crispus during the Boston Massacre as way to humiliate the North's own legacy and history. More eloquent Confederate scholars attempt to point out that Crispus was more Native-American than he was black and that he was nothing more than a hooligan, a thug, and a rabble rouser out for "white blood" that deserved his fate. Indeed, his story and death as a rabble rouser and troublemaker is something that Confederates especially during Featherston's Administration would try to spin, in a way helping justify Featherston's own beliefs in seeing Blacks completely eradicated.
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^^^ Phillis Wheatley --- 1753-1784 --- Enslaved at a young age, likely taken from Gambia or Senegal, Phillis Wheatley was named after the ship she was transported on and given the surname of her master's family. The Wheatleys were a wealthy and influential family in Boston and Phillis was originally given to Mrs. Wheatley to be her servant. She was given a very good education, which was unprecedented for a slave and woman in her time, learning to read Greek and Latin classics as well as passages from the Bible. Recognizing her talent as a writer, reader, and poet, her masters allowed her to pursue her talents. She was able to meet quite few powerful British individuals and many people from her time, including George Washington, praised her work. Thomas Paine, author of "Common Sense", republished a poem she had sent to George Washington in the Pennsylvania Gazette. She was emancipated after publishing her book of poems and writings and eventually married a freedman. Unfortunately she died at age 31, with her husband imprisoned for debt and her being left impoverished, having lost three children to sickness.
Union --- Her legacy, like that of so many notable African-Americans before the War of Secession, struggled to stay relevant in United States society, persevering over the years and doggedly kept alive by those that would remember her. That she received praise for her work by so many influential and notable individuals like Voltaire and even the Confederate idol George Washington was proof to abolitionists that Blacks in America could rise to such prominence, contributing to the story and progress of the United States. Her memory in Massachusetts remained strong, especially in her native Boston, where local teachers continued to tell her story in classrooms, sharing a curriculum that advocated intense hatred for the Confederates and British through focused studies in history. Her poems were also read in English classes along side Imperial German poets translated to English for immigrant German children. Her work was still published in Massachusetts by pro-black publishers and printers. Interestingly enough Socialists and Communists in the United States also took an interest in her work.
Confederacy --- Any records of Phillis' works and poems, if found, were discarded and burned in the Confederacy in the years between the Second Mexican War and the Great War, where intense Confederate nationalism grew substantially. Any mention of George Washington praising her work or receiving her as a guest to read her poems is unacknowledged and struck from the records. During Featherston's Administration as part of his Population Reduction program any and all Black publications, as well as documents relating to communism and socialism, were to be destroyed. Phillis Wheatley's poems, surprisingly enough, was one of the few persistent pieces of literature found on black guerrilla fighters in the Confederacy. It was discovered after the war that her poems were smuggled into the south by the few socialists willing to take the risk, being used to help illiterate blacks who escaped population reduction to read and write.
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^^^ Peter Salem --- 1750-1816 --- Born to a slave mother in Massachusetts, his early life and the occupation of his parents are largely unknown. Consequently being a slave himself he was sold by army captain Jeremiah Belknap to army Major Buckminster in 1775. With hostilities between the British and the New England colonists imminent, a call for militia was sent out and able bodied men for a coming fight were needed. Since African Americans were banned in Massachusetts from bearing arms and joining the military in 1656 for fear of slave revolts, the Committee of Safety allowed for freed African Americans to join the militia and army. Salem's master, once again called to service as a major in militia, emancipated Salem the same year he bought him, allowing him to serve in a militia company. At the age of 25, he was one of the few black Minutemen taking an active part in the very first battles of the Revolution, fighting at the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April. In June that same year Salem was once again on the front lines at the Battle of Bunker Hill, being the man supposedly responsible for killing Major John Pitcairn of the Royal Marines, who led the advance party into Lexington and Concord earlier in April. Salem was one of a dozen or so freed black men present at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Salem would go on to enlist for more consecutive years with various Continental and State Regiments, fighting at the Battles of Saratoga and Stony Point. He died in 1816 at age 66, having survived the war a freed man.
Union --- Peter Salem's story, as well as the stories of many other fighting black men of the Revolutionary War, was one that abolitionists in the North pointed to as proof of the fighting resolve of black men, championing the idea that blacks could enter service with the Army as a way to fight for their freedom and for the freedom of their enslaved brothers and sisters in the south. The crushing end to War of Secession severely dampened hopes of blacks officially serving with the United States Army, but the idea and its advocates persisted over the decades, making slow progress as black recruits trickled in over the years to garrison forts and outposts in the western territories, in Occupied Canada, and in Utah. Being a part of Massachusetts local history Peter Salem entered into the text books of students in the state, with teachers recognizing him and other black soldiers for their bravery and determination for helping in the cause of independence. In the years just before the Great War, this was considered rather progressive in terms of education, but the dogged determination of pro-black supporters in the North ensured that Salem's legacy would not be forgotten. His actions at Bunker Hill are said to be of particular interest, with scholars debating over whether he was truly the man responsible for killing the British officer that supposedly gave the order for minutemen to disperse on the Lexington Green. He was read about along side German soldier-heroes from the Franco-Prussian War in Massachusetts in classes where German speaking children learned English in the years before the Great War.
Confederacy --- Peter Salem's legacy proved an interesting one in the South. Like all records of Black Americans that were of some prominence pre-secession, his was erased from Confederate memory and he is largely unheard of by white Confederates. However, in the years since secession and especially during the 20th Century, when the Great War, Red Rebellions, and Second Great War, wracked the North American continent, Confederate soldiers that managed to take black guerrillas as prisoners noted a peculiar practice among them --- surnames. Among some of the most numerous surnames recorded were Attucks, Lafayette, and Salem, to name a few. To Confederates whites it is unknown how they came up with these surnames, but the reading material found on them seems suggest they took the name of Salem from the smuggled history books they read, with publication stamps from Massachusetts.
Reputations of Pre-Secession (Pre-POD) Individuals: Part 4 - African Americans of the American War of Independence, Part 1
^^^ Crispus Attucks --- C. 1723-1770 --- Of African and Native-American descent, his ethnicity is a topic of much debate, since he was described as being African, Indian, and Mulatto. Sources differ on whether he was a freedman or an escaped slave, with some records indicating a man with the same first name having ran away from his master in Massachusetts, with a reward for his capture. What is known was that he worked as a sailor and a longshoreman, spending most of his life at sea and traveling the eastern seaboard as far south as the Bahamas. As one of the many waterfront men in Boston that were organized into groups by Patriots in defiance of British troops garrisoned in Boston, Crispus Attuck was part of the crowd that was fired on in the Boston Massacre. Witnesses say he led a crowd to the Customs House on King Street, daring the soldiers there to fire back on the crowd, throwing objects at them. He is considered to be the first man to die in the crowd and by extension the first man to die in the American War of Independence.
Union --- During the trial in which John Adams successfully defended the British soldiers charged with firing on the crowd (a fact that Revaunchist scholars have tried to play down with little success), he charged Attucks with having "undertaken to be the hero of the night, having precipitated a conflict by his mad behavior." In the years just before the outbreak of the War of Secession, abolitionists in the North advocating for the freedom of slaves lauded Crispus Attucks as a hero of the Revolution and of the United States. With the United States defeat in the war the cause for abolition waned, but the fight to keep Crispus Attucks' legacy alive did not in the state of Massachusetts nor in Boston. Old school abolitionists and freed blacks in New England doggedly attempted to keep the histories of Black-Americans alive in the face of growing Pro-German revaunchism in the aftermath of the Second Mexican War. Boston schools still tell the stories of the Boston Massacre and Crispus' role in the event and he was still considered a hero in his local area well into the Great Wars years. Outside of the New England area however his legacy too much longer to sink in and it wasn't until after GWII that his story began to be widely told.
Confederacy --- In the south, when the story of Crispus Attucks is talked about is mocked and diminished, especially in regards to John Adams' testimony of Crispus during the Boston Massacre as way to humiliate the North's own legacy and history. More eloquent Confederate scholars attempt to point out that Crispus was more Native-American than he was black and that he was nothing more than a hooligan, a thug, and a rabble rouser out for "white blood" that deserved his fate. Indeed, his story and death as a rabble rouser and troublemaker is something that Confederates especially during Featherston's Administration would try to spin, in a way helping justify Featherston's own beliefs in seeing Blacks completely eradicated.
-----
^^^ Phillis Wheatley --- 1753-1784 --- Enslaved at a young age, likely taken from Gambia or Senegal, Phillis Wheatley was named after the ship she was transported on and given the surname of her master's family. The Wheatleys were a wealthy and influential family in Boston and Phillis was originally given to Mrs. Wheatley to be her servant. She was given a very good education, which was unprecedented for a slave and woman in her time, learning to read Greek and Latin classics as well as passages from the Bible. Recognizing her talent as a writer, reader, and poet, her masters allowed her to pursue her talents. She was able to meet quite few powerful British individuals and many people from her time, including George Washington, praised her work. Thomas Paine, author of "Common Sense", republished a poem she had sent to George Washington in the Pennsylvania Gazette. She was emancipated after publishing her book of poems and writings and eventually married a freedman. Unfortunately she died at age 31, with her husband imprisoned for debt and her being left impoverished, having lost three children to sickness.
Union --- Her legacy, like that of so many notable African-Americans before the War of Secession, struggled to stay relevant in United States society, persevering over the years and doggedly kept alive by those that would remember her. That she received praise for her work by so many influential and notable individuals like Voltaire and even the Confederate idol George Washington was proof to abolitionists that Blacks in America could rise to such prominence, contributing to the story and progress of the United States. Her memory in Massachusetts remained strong, especially in her native Boston, where local teachers continued to tell her story in classrooms, sharing a curriculum that advocated intense hatred for the Confederates and British through focused studies in history. Her poems were also read in English classes along side Imperial German poets translated to English for immigrant German children. Her work was still published in Massachusetts by pro-black publishers and printers. Interestingly enough Socialists and Communists in the United States also took an interest in her work.
Confederacy --- Any records of Phillis' works and poems, if found, were discarded and burned in the Confederacy in the years between the Second Mexican War and the Great War, where intense Confederate nationalism grew substantially. Any mention of George Washington praising her work or receiving her as a guest to read her poems is unacknowledged and struck from the records. During Featherston's Administration as part of his Population Reduction program any and all Black publications, as well as documents relating to communism and socialism, were to be destroyed. Phillis Wheatley's poems, surprisingly enough, was one of the few persistent pieces of literature found on black guerrilla fighters in the Confederacy. It was discovered after the war that her poems were smuggled into the south by the few socialists willing to take the risk, being used to help illiterate blacks who escaped population reduction to read and write.
-----
^^^ Peter Salem --- 1750-1816 --- Born to a slave mother in Massachusetts, his early life and the occupation of his parents are largely unknown. Consequently being a slave himself he was sold by army captain Jeremiah Belknap to army Major Buckminster in 1775. With hostilities between the British and the New England colonists imminent, a call for militia was sent out and able bodied men for a coming fight were needed. Since African Americans were banned in Massachusetts from bearing arms and joining the military in 1656 for fear of slave revolts, the Committee of Safety allowed for freed African Americans to join the militia and army. Salem's master, once again called to service as a major in militia, emancipated Salem the same year he bought him, allowing him to serve in a militia company. At the age of 25, he was one of the few black Minutemen taking an active part in the very first battles of the Revolution, fighting at the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April. In June that same year Salem was once again on the front lines at the Battle of Bunker Hill, being the man supposedly responsible for killing Major John Pitcairn of the Royal Marines, who led the advance party into Lexington and Concord earlier in April. Salem was one of a dozen or so freed black men present at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Salem would go on to enlist for more consecutive years with various Continental and State Regiments, fighting at the Battles of Saratoga and Stony Point. He died in 1816 at age 66, having survived the war a freed man.
Union --- Peter Salem's story, as well as the stories of many other fighting black men of the Revolutionary War, was one that abolitionists in the North pointed to as proof of the fighting resolve of black men, championing the idea that blacks could enter service with the Army as a way to fight for their freedom and for the freedom of their enslaved brothers and sisters in the south. The crushing end to War of Secession severely dampened hopes of blacks officially serving with the United States Army, but the idea and its advocates persisted over the decades, making slow progress as black recruits trickled in over the years to garrison forts and outposts in the western territories, in Occupied Canada, and in Utah. Being a part of Massachusetts local history Peter Salem entered into the text books of students in the state, with teachers recognizing him and other black soldiers for their bravery and determination for helping in the cause of independence. In the years just before the Great War, this was considered rather progressive in terms of education, but the dogged determination of pro-black supporters in the North ensured that Salem's legacy would not be forgotten. His actions at Bunker Hill are said to be of particular interest, with scholars debating over whether he was truly the man responsible for killing the British officer that supposedly gave the order for minutemen to disperse on the Lexington Green. He was read about along side German soldier-heroes from the Franco-Prussian War in Massachusetts in classes where German speaking children learned English in the years before the Great War.
Confederacy --- Peter Salem's legacy proved an interesting one in the South. Like all records of Black Americans that were of some prominence pre-secession, his was erased from Confederate memory and he is largely unheard of by white Confederates. However, in the years since secession and especially during the 20th Century, when the Great War, Red Rebellions, and Second Great War, wracked the North American continent, Confederate soldiers that managed to take black guerrillas as prisoners noted a peculiar practice among them --- surnames. Among some of the most numerous surnames recorded were Attucks, Lafayette, and Salem, to name a few. To Confederates whites it is unknown how they came up with these surnames, but the reading material found on them seems suggest they took the name of Salem from the smuggled history books they read, with publication stamps from Massachusetts.
