Including African American Experience during the
Revolutionary War in the High School
American History Curriculum: Sylvia Frey’s
Water from the Rock
David Nees
Dr. Gordon
June 1, 2010
EPL 834
I. Why a special unit on African American resistance and experience in the
Revolutionary War?
High school students cannot get their diploma without having to study the American
Revolution in the eighteenth century. What students are not required to understand, however, is
the participation of African Americans in the Revolution. Sylvia R. Frey notes, “Although
historians have tended to view the war in the South in military terms as a bipolarity, in fact it was
a complex triangular process involving two sets of white belligerents and approximately four
hundred thousand slaves” (Frey, 45). For textbooks to tell the story of the white belligerents
(Colonials and British) but leave the significant population of African American slaves untreated
seems irresponsible.
Consider a few facts: at the time of the Revolutionary war, there were approximately
400,000 African American slaves living in the Southern United States (Frey, 45); in the area
surrounding the Chesapeake Bay, there were over 270,000 African American Slaves (9); the
population of whites in South Carolina was approximately 70,000 while the population of
African American slaves was approximately 100,000 (9); in Georgia, roughly 15,000 of the
33,000 people living there were African American slaves (10). Knowing those facts, it seems
only right to consider at least a small part of African American slaves during the war.
II. A story of African American slave experience during the Revolutionary War as
explained by Sylvia R. Frey in Water from the Rock
The chaos produced by the Revolutionary War had unique consequences for African
American slaves living in the South. As the national exclamation among white Whigs and
American patriots against the oppressive British was “Liberty,” the slave population in the South
soon began to echo the same cry against their white masters (51). It was not long before many
slaves were given the opportunity to decide what that liberty might look like for themselves, if
only for a time.
This became a possibility for the slaves because much of the movement of the British
army occurred in the South, thus disrupting Southern society, including the role of slaves.
Disorder brought with it a crossroads for many African Americans: choose to stay with their
master, flee the master for the British army, or runaway completely to gain freedom. Many
Africans fled their masters; others set up maroon colonies. The more bold members from these
colonies engaged in guerilla warfare against their former masters (53). While some set up
maroon colonies, perhaps the greatest number of slaves fled to the British, as there was general
agreement among the slaves that the British were significant allies for the slaves (58). Indeed,
“Most of the slaves who wished to challenge the slave regime did so by fleeing to the British”
(156).
The British realized the value of the slaves and the potential boon that they could be to
the British war cause. They pondered using the tactic of slave revolt during the Revolution in
order to create confusion in the South (55). In fact, Lord Dunmore did incite some slaves to
rebel (64). Eventually, the British opted to issue the Phillipsburg Proclamation, which promised
freedom to many slaves who would desert their master and help the British forces in the war
(108). However, many more slaves deserted their masters to join the British than the British
could actually accommodate and use (119). The slaves were used to make and repair articles for
the army, they helped in food preparation, and they helped in the hospitals for wounded British
(121-122). However, many of the slaves ended up being sold or given to loyalist families (130).
Eventually, the British used some of the slaves as troops (138).
The British forces were not the only ones to employ African Americans in the war,
however. “At the outbreak of the American Revolution several colonies, all of them in the
North, accepted blacks in militia units. Blacks were with the patriot forces at Lexington and
Concord and at Bunker Hill” (77). Conversely, the situation in the South was a different story.
Southerners, having enslaved blacks for generations and embodying a symbol of oppression to
the black population in America, were obviously reluctant to arm the slaves for fear that the
slaves would then just turn on their masters (72).
In the coming days before Cornwallis surrendered to the Colonials and the French, the
British army was wasting away. They were suffering from a terrible shortage of supplies,
including food. Finally, the starved, smallpox-ridden blacks, who had been assisting the British
forces, were driven away so that they would not be a drain on resources to the British anymore.
This was the grand payment for their service to the British during the war (170). Not all slaves
were quite so ‘lucky’ to have this be their payment, however. From the towns of Savannah,
Charleston, and St. Augustine, a total of approximately 20,000 slaves were taken by the British
and exported from the continental colonies following the war. Many of these were taken to the
British West Indies, where their slavery would continue (182).
The most fortunate African Americans were actually granted their freedom after the war.
Many of these freed blacks were taken to Nova Scotia to begin living their lives of freedom;
however, the land they were given contained some of the worst soil in Nova Scotia, and soon
many of the blacks were starving. Thus, many relocated to Sierra Leone in West Africa (194,
198).
It is estimated that 80,000 to 100,000 slaves left their masters during the Revolutionary
War—that is about one-quarter of the amount of slaves that were in the South at the outset of the
war (211). However, this did not discourage the Southern whites from continuing their practice
of slavery. By 1790, the number of slaves in Georgia reached 29,000, almost double what it was
for the state before the war (212). Virginia’s slave population grew from 165,000 to 270,000
during the course of the war—that number does not reflect the influx of slaves immediately
following the war (218). Maryland on the other hand only saw an increase of 3,000, from 80,000
slaves to 83,000 slaves during the same period (218).
In the decades after the war, there were a greatly increased number of revolts and attacks
on whites in the south by black slaves (225). “The progressive history of slave resistance shows
that although slave rebellions retained vital links to the African past, insurrectionary activity was
increasingly influenced by revolutionary ideology and evangelical religion” (226). Many of the
slaves that had fought with the colonial allies, the French, were taken to the Caribbean to be
slaves on sugar plantations. Having experienced first hand the liberty that comes via rebellion,
the slaves in Saint Domingue led a powerful uprising. Word of this uprising traveled to
America via free African American traders and also through the movement of slaves to the
Southern states on the continent. Slave rebellions grew noticeably in the Southern states to the
point that Governor Pinckney of South Carolina tried to bar the entry of slaves from Saint
Domingue (228-232). Thus, the American ideology of liberty that infected the southern slaves
and led them to revolt against the white slaveholders was initiated by the American Revolution
itself. Once having tasted the possibility of freedom, the African Americans could not accept
being denied their liberty.
As stated, the ideology that fomented the revolution against the British also brought about
rebellions and revolt plots in the Southern states. One of the most well known was the Gabriel
revolt in Virginia in 1800. Two enslaved blacksmiths led this rebellion, and their plan was to
lead an army of African American slaves against their masters using swords that the two
blacksmiths were making (256). The Vesey rebellion in South Carolina is another welldocumented slave revolt (263, 321). “Fearful of the violent or retaliatory potential of slaves, the
courts by their interpretations of the laws rendered slaves powerless to defend themselves, even
against violent assault by a white person” (239).
At the end of Water from the Rock, Frey argues, “The revolutionary war in the South thus
became a war about slavery, if not a war over slavery” (326). This is quite a large claim to
make!
III. Activities
1. Response to Lecture. After presenting the material above:
a. Have students write down their thoughts on the lecture material. Encourage them to
get a full page. After allowing sufficient time for the students to write their responses to
the material, open the floor for students to share what they learned and found interesting
from the lecture.
b. Ask the class what they think about Frey’s claim at the end of the lecture. Is that true?
Is it true for some people in the south? Ask for students’ responses.
2. Book Report & Share. From the books listed in the bibliography, each student must pick one
book to read (a few of them are significantly longer than others, so make accommodations to
have students read those books with a partner—each can do half). The students will have 2
weeks to read the book. After they read the book, give them 2 hours of class time to write a 3
page report on what the book is about, including what they found interesting, the thesis of the
book, and other important facts.
Once the students complete their papers, break the class into groups of 3, and have the
students share their papers with their group. After this is done, bring the class back together and
have the students share what they learned about African Americans during the revolution that
they did not already know.
3. Response Journals—Enable students to note feelings, questions, thoughts on the following
piece. Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUlWfgsJzM0.
a. Pause the video right after she asks the question about Lord Dunmore at 2:40. (You
must be prompt here, b/c she answers rather quickly). Ask the students to give answers.
b. Pause the video promptly at 4:16, and ask the class for what they think the outcome
will be for Billy.
c. Why do you think James opted to help the Patriots during the war? Ask this question
once the video finishes.
d. When the video is completely over, have the students do their response journal noted
above, telling their feelings, questions, and thoughts on the piece.
4. KWL (Know, Want to know, Learned) Before providing the lecture material to the students,
break the white board up into three big columns, and write “Know” on top of one column, “Want
to know” on top of another column, and “Learned” on top of the third column. Have the students
get out a piece of paper and break the paper up in the same manner. Have the students give
suggestions for what they know about African Americans in the Revolutionary War (this could
be very telling); encourage the students to write down on their paper what the students suggest.
Also write it down on the board. Do the same thing with “Want to know.” After reading the
lecture material to the students, have them give suggestions for what they learned; again, have
them write it down on their paper, and write it up on the board.
5. “In Your Shoes” Think, Pair, Share. Ask the students imagine what it would have been like
to have been a slave during the Revolutionary War. Ask them what they think they would have
done if they would have been in that place (in those shoes, if you will)—for example, would they
have stayed with their master, would they have fled to the British, would they have tried to just
run as far away as possible? Reinforce to the students that they would still have their same
personality, but they would not know the outcome of the war. What would they have done? Ask
them to think about this for a minute and then write down their answer in their journal. After 10
minutes of thinking/writing time, have them pair up with someone sitting next to them in the
class and share what they said. When this is done, ask for students from the whole class to share
what they said or what their partner said.
6. Watch a documentary. Watch “For the Love of Liberty: The Story of America’s Black
Patriots” which is a 2010 documentary. The documentary contains more than just the
Revolutionary War; so do not watch the whole film. Discuss the film with students afterward.
What did they learn? What do they wish would have been covered more thoroughly? What do
they think was left out?
7. PBS Exercise. For homework, have the students go to
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2i1599.html. At this site, the students will find a number of
short stories, and question and answers with African American scholars. Have the students pick
4 of the short stories or question and answers to reflect on. Have them do a 1-page write up on
what they learned. Topics included on the site: maroon communities, Colonel Tye, blacks
fighting in the American Revolution, blacks leaving the U.S. for the British, the evacuation of
slaves from New York, black men during the Revolutionary War, Dunmore’s Proclamation,
Dunmore’s Proclamation effect on the war, Benjamin Bannekar, Elizabeth Freeman, Agrippa
Hull, The Quock Walker Case, Cato’s letter and petition to the Pennsylvania legislature, the
Book of Negroes, British pass issued to black loyalist, Runaway ad for Titus, Proclamation of
Earl of Dunmore (Lord Dunmore).
--Show them the pictures below that they will encounter as they surf the site tonight in order to
peak
their interest!
Portrait of a Black Revolutionary War Hero
Elizabeth Freeman
The book of Negroes
Portrait of Agrippa Hull
(All pictures from pbs.org)
African Americans in the 18th century bibliography:
BOOKS:
Bastide, R. (1971). African civilizations in the new world. London: C. Hurst.
Berlin, I. (2000). Many Thousands gone: the first two centuries of slavery in north america.
Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Blair, M.W. (2010). Liberty or death : the surprising story of runaway slaves who sided with the
british during the american revolution. Washington D.C.: National Geographic.
Frey, S.R., & Wood, B. (1998). Come shouting to zion: african american protestantism in the
american south and british caribbean to 1830. Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North
Carolina Press.
Frey, S.R. (1991). Water from the rock: black resistance in a revolutionary age. Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press.
Gomez, M.A. (1998). Exchanging our country marks: the transformation of african identities in
the colonial and antebellum south. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina
Press.
Malcom, J.L. (2009). Peter's war: a new england slave boy and the american revolution. New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Melish, J.P. (1998). Disowning slavery: gradual emancipation and "race" in new england, 17801860. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Morgan, P.D. (1998). Slave counterpoint: black culture in the eighteenth-century chesapeake and
lowcountry. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press
Nash, G.B. (2006). The Forgotten fifth: african americans in the age of revolution. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
Quarles, B. . (1961). The Negro in the american revolution. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of
North Carolina Press.
Sidbury, J. (2007). Becoming african in america: race and nation in the early black atlantic . New
York: Oxford University Press.
Waldstreicher, D. (2009). Slavery's constitution: from revolution to ratification. Hill and Wang.
Wiencek, H. (2004). An Imperfect god: george washington, his slaves, and the creation of
america . New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Wood, B. (2005). Slavery in colonial america, 1619-1776. Maryland, U.S.A.: Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers, Inc..
ARTICLES:
Okihiro, G.Y. (Ed.). (1986). In resistance: studies in african, caribbean, and afro-american
history. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 166-187.
Olwell, R.A. (1989). "'Domestick enemies':slavery and political independence in south carolina,
may 1775-march 1776"". Journal of Southern History, 55, 21-48.
Ranlet, P. . (1999). The British, slaves, and smallpox in revolutionary virginia. The Journal of
Negro History, 84(3), 217-226.
ONLINE:
Youtube.com (Type in African Americans in Revolutionary War to see trailer for documentary
noted in lesson plan above)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2i1599.html. This is the PBS website used in the lesson plan
above.