Africans in the Americas: The Revolution

Greetings, Class. 

Be sure to view Africans in the Americas: The Revolution. If you have comments or concerns, please post them here and we will invite them into our next class discussion. 

Dr. Hill 

Africans in the Americas: the Revolution  




Part 1

1.     1768 – 4000 British Troops arrived in the colonies to attempt to control the colonists. March 5, 1770 – 5 men were shot. Who was the first to die in what is remembered as The Boston Massacre?

2.     The poets are always present. What was the name of the young African woman poet published in 1773?

3.     By the American Revolution of 1776, how many African Slaves were living in the American colonies?

4.     Why do you think the colonist continually compared themselves to ‘slaves’?  Why is that important to consider when exploring notions of liberty and American/African American History?

5.     Why do you think that George Washington initially refused to enlist any African, slave or free, in the revolutionary war?

Part 2

1.     How did David George’s experiences with reading influence his life and community?

2.     Many scholars of American/African American Studies find it interesting that Thomas Jefferson's comments on liberty often conflict with his writings about African Americans and further conflicted with his lifestyle.

I encourage you to continue to consider the contradictions you observed in Thomas Jefferson's life and then do some very hard work. The hard work is to consider how the contradictions in Thomas Jefferson's life and writings foreshadow or speak to some of the contradictions evident in American culture.

One could spend their lives writing several books on that topic. Do you think you could give a summary of your initial thoughts in 3 to 5 sentences?

3.     What year did George Washington feel the need enlist African American soldiers in the Revolutionary war?  Why?

4.     What precautions coincided with the British Armies surrender?

5.     Why did the import of Africans increase after the Revolutionary War? Hint: consider our class community theory of commodified bodies.

6.     Explore the ideology associated with the 3/5ths rule.  How did this rule aid in the forming of the United States of America?

7.     The census of 1880 indicated what figures concerning populations of free versus enslaved African Americans in the US colonies?