honor and educate...

Through the memorial to black patriots, National Mall Liberty Fund D.C. will educate Americans about these patriots' contributions to the founding of the nation and fill large gaps in our children's textbooks. An understanding of our common heritage will eliminate stereotypes, heal racial wounds passed on for generations and foster a sense of "One Nation" among Americans.

The site is midway between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. Near these and other symbols of liberty, the memorial will illuminate lost history and tell us that blacks: Served honorably under General George Washington, and beside their white compatriots, in military and civilian roles.

• Struggled to win freedom and equality decades before Lincoln's birth and the emancipation proclamation.

• Aspired to make the ideals of the Declaration of Independence a part of the Constitution and a reality for all citizens.

• Fought and died in all wars, from the Revolution to Vietnam (including the Civil War).

documented history...

The role of blacks in the American Revolution is well-documented, although not common knowledge. Pioneering black historians since the mid-1800s have researched the subject. In 1855, William C. Nell published the Colored Patriots of the American Revolution. It was followed in 1883 by George Washington Williams' History of the Negro Race in America and in 1942 by Luther P. Jackson's Negro Soldiers and Seamen in the American Revolution. Considered the definitive work is The Negro in the American Revolution, written in 1961, by Dr. Benjamin Quarles.

noble story...

There were about 500,000 blacks in America when the Revolution began -- about 20 percent of the population. Most were held as slaves. Historians estimate that, between 1775 and 1783, more than 5,000 slaves and free blacks fought in the army, navy and militia. They served side-by-side with whites in all the major baffles, from Lexington and Concord to Yorktown. Initially, blacks were barred from service for fear that they might not be loyal to the cause. Free blacks of Boston, who were already serving, protested. And the order partially was reversed. However, hard-pressed to fill quotas, recruiters continued to muster in blacks.

By 1778, as the war effort sagged, blacks were welcomed and efforts were initiated to raise all-black regiments. Speaking of such an effort, James Madison wrote, "would it not be as well to liberate and make soldiers at once of the blacks themselves. It would certainly be more consonant with the principles of liberty, which ought never to be lost sight of in a contest for liberty."

Black soldiers hailed from all the states, but a majority were from the North. Most served in integrated units, although Rhode Island and Massachusetts boasted notable all-black regiments. Many blacks served as substitutes for their masters, fought alongside them or ran away and enlisted -- sometimes under assumed names to hide their identity.

There were many heroes. Salem Poor was commended by the Massachusetts legislature for bravery at Bunker Hill. Austin Dabney of Georgia was awarded 112 acres in recognition of "bravery and fortitude" in several engagements. Edward Hector was given $50 by the Pennsylvania legislature 50 years after the war for protecting an ammunition wagon while other Americans retreated. James Armistead was commended by Lafayette for his industriousness as a spy.

All suffered the horrors of war. Zechery Prince received his freedom posthumously. Gad Asher was blinded. Thomas Lively lost his right eye at Monmouth. Richard Primes was wounded in the head at Camden. Cuff Slade's feet were frozen. Robert Green was wounded in the face. George Dias was taken prisoner at Elizabethtown and escaped. Francis Freeman, Cato Howe, Titus Kent, Pomp Liberty and others served the entire duration of the war. Two blacks, one of whom could have been Oliver Cromwell, were in the boat with Washington when he crossed the Delaware. Some black soldiers had been carried on slave ships from Africa, men like Gad Asher, Richard Cozens and Caesar Clark.

During the war, blacks used whatever means open to secure freedom. Jefferson estimated that during 1778 alone more than 30,000 Virginia slaves ran away. South Carolina lost at least 25,000 during the war. A petition submitted by a group of Connecticut slaves in 1779 told the legislature that the petitioners "groaned" under their own burdens, but they contemplated with horror "the miserable Condition of our Children, who are training up, and kept in Preparation, for a like State of Bondage and Servitude." Elizabeth Freeman's freedom suit in 1781 sounded the death knell for slavery in Massachusetts.

These black patriots left a legacy. They organized churches and self-help groups that would light the way for future generations. They formed family units whose immediate offspring served America in other wars, including the civil war. Prince Hall founded the black masons, which bears his name today. Richard Allen, the founder of the African Methodist and Episcopal Church, bought his freedom in 1783 with wages earned from driving a salt wagon for the army. James Mars, the son of Revolutionary war soldier Jupiter Mars, wrote an autobiography about his life in slavery, "because at the time of the civil war few knew that slavery ever lived in Connecticut."

While many generations would have to wait to rejoice in the freedom that very few blacks would achieve during the Revolution, a deep channel had been cut into America's consciousness through which a mighty river would rage and eventually engulf slavery and its evils. The free black population of Boston, New York and Philadelphia rose from 4,000 to over 22,000 by the turn of the 19th century. Slavery was abolished in much of the North by 1785. These patriots laid the foundation for the modern civil rights movement.

long and continuous road to honor...

The recognition of the black patriots of the Revolutionary war began during the war, itself, when men like Salem Poor and Peter Salem were recognized for bravery. School children from Washington, D.C. and Alexandria, Virginia, who pleaded for passage of the memorial legislation in 1986, continued the struggle to honor the most forgotten and neglected heroes and patriots.

You can join hands with generations and keep the fight alive.

In 1855 historian William Cooper Nell published the "Colored Patriots of the American Revolution." Four years earlier, he and seven others petitioned the Massachusetts legislature to build a memorial to Crispus Attucks, the first to die in the Boston Massacre of 1770.

Howard D. Asbury of the Wareham Bicentennial Commmission in 1936 prepared a compendium containing the names of over 1,000 black soldiers from Massachusetts.

In 1963, Dr. Benjamin Quarles published "The Negro in the American Revolution" and later testified before Congress on June 13, 1985, in support of the memorial to black patriots.

From 1968 through 1981, the U.S. Postal Service printed stamps honoring individual black patriots, including Peter Salem, Salem Poor, William Ball, Oliver Cromwell and Prince Whipple.

In 1984, Congress approved a resolution honoring the role of the black patriots, runaway slaves and freedom petitioners. In 1986, Congress authorized a memorial to those forgotten founders to be erected with private funds.

In 1988, Congress declared the deeds of the black patriots to be of "preeminent historical and lasting significance to the nation," making the memorial eligible to stand on the National Mall.

In the late 1990's, the U.S. Mint issued a commemorative coin honoring Crispus Attucks.

In 2000, the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution published "African American and American Indian Patriots of the Revolutionary War. This list contains nearly 2,500 black patriots.

Nearly 30 distinguished members of Congress, historians, organizations, children and teachers testified before Congress in support of the memorial to black patriots.