Virginia: African Americans

Video

Duration

7:50

Poster Image

African American Virginians left few direct written testimonies, but their actions speak clearly. Roughly 10 percent of Continental Army service members were people of color, with Black individuals serving in the Continental Navy even earlier. Enslaved people also served extensively in the British Army, self-emancipating in response to Dunmore’s 1775 proclamation. James Fayette, an enslaved Virginian, served as a spy for Lafayette, gathering intelligence crucial to the Battle of Yorktown. After petitioning unsuccessfully for his freedom multiple times, he was finally freed when Lafayette personally advocated on his behalf. He later returned to Richmond periodically as a celebrated war hero, a figure whose story complicated easy narratives about whose Revolution it was.

Interviewees

Maggie Creech
- Director of Education, Virginia Museum of History and Culture
James Herrera-Brookes
- Melanie Trent De Schutter Senior Director of Research & Publications, Virginia Museum of History and Culture

More African American perspectives

View details

Connecticut

African Americans
Delaware

African Americans
Georgia

African Americans
Maryland

African Americans
Massachusetts

African Americans
New Hampshire

African Americans
New Jersey

African Americans
New York

African Americans
North Carolina

African Americans
Pennsylvania

African Americans
Rhode Island

African Americans
South Carolina

African Americans

African Americans

More African American perspectives

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

African Americans

More from Virginia

Context

Declaration

Memory

Loyalists

Native Americans

Politicians

Women