Your July 4th History Is a Lie: Black Americans Fought Against Independence

As July 4th celebrations commence, they ignore that around 3x as many Black Americans fought for Britain than served in the Continental Army because the "enemy" offered what America wouldn't: freedom.

Today, millions of Americans will wave flags, fire up grills, and celebrate the birth of freedom. Politicians will give speeches about liberty and justice for all. Children will learn about brave patriots fighting for independence against British tyranny.

But here's what they won't hear: More Black Americans fought against American independence than for it. Between 15,000-20,000 Black Americans joined British forces during the Revolutionary War, while only 5,000-8,000 served with the Continental Army. For enslaved people in 1776, the enemy offered freedom while the "freedom fighters" offered continued bondage.

Ethiopian Regiment uniform with "Liberty to Slaves" inscription.

The Fourth of July is a carefully constructed lie that erases the choices Black Americans actually made when liberty was on the line.

I'm fighting to document stories like these British Black regiments before they're dismissed as "unpatriotic" or erased entirely, and I need your help!

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British Promises of Freedom vs. American Slavery

In November 1775, Lord Dunmore, Virginia's royal governor, issued a proclamation that changed everything. Any enslaved person owned by a "rebel" who joined British forces would be freed. It was strategic warfare designed to destabilize the colonial economy and terrify plantation owners. But for thousands of enslaved Americans, the motivation didn't matter. It was a path to freedom.

Lord Dunmore's 1775 proclamation offering freedom to enslaved Americans.

The response was immediate and massive. Within months, hundreds of Black men formed Dunmore's "Ethiopian Regiment," wearing uniforms emblazoned with "Liberty to Slaves." When British General Henry Clinton expanded the offer in 1779 through the Philipsburg Proclamation, promising freedom to any enslaved person who escaped rebel masters, an estimated 100,000 enslaved people fled to British lines during the war.

Conversely, when Black soldiers like Salem Poor and Peter Salem fought heroically at Bunker Hill in 1775, the Continental Congress banned Black enlistment entirely. George Washington, himself a slaveholder, initially expelled Black soldiers already serving. The Declaration of Independence proclaimed that "all men are created equal" while keeping half a million people in chains.

Black Americans chose the side that offered them humanity.

Black Soldiers in British Forces

Throughout the war, Black Americans served in multiple British units across different regions. The Black Dragoons operated as cavalry in South Carolina, conducting raids against Patriot forces. The Black Pioneers worked as combat engineers and laborers, building fortifications and supporting military operations from Charleston to New York.

Black soldiers fought alongside British and Loyalist forces in major engagements, not just in support roles. When Francis Marion's Patriots encountered Black cavalry units, they found themselves facing skilled horsemen who knew the local terrain and fought with the desperation of people whose freedom depended on victory.

The original uniform for the Black Pioneers regiment.

British military records show these soldiers received better treatment than most Black Americans who served the Patriot cause. They were paid as soldiers, not property, and they lived in military camps as free men. When the war ended, thousands evacuated with British forces to Nova Scotia, England, and eventually Sierra Leone, maintaining their freedom.

Continental Army Integration and Black Patriots

The Continental Army did include Black soldiers, but their path to service was far more complicated. Initially banned by Washington, Black Americans were only gradually accepted as manpower shortages became desperate. Even then, their service often came with broken promises.

Rhode Island created an all-Black regiment in 1778, promising freedom to enslaved men who enlisted. These soldiers fought bravely at Newport and served until Yorktown. A French officer described Washington's army as "speckled" because of racial integration in most units. Black and white soldiers fought side by side in every major battle from Lexington to Yorktown.

Depiction of black soldier from the Rhode Island Regiment at Yorktown, 1781.

But integration didn't mean equality. Many Black soldiers who served the American cause were returned to slavery after the war. James Lafayette, the spy who helped secure victory at Yorktown, had to petition the Virginia legislature for his freedom years later. Others waited decades for promised manumissions, if they came at all.

The contrast with British treatment was stark. While American Black soldiers faced uncertain futures, those who evacuated with British forces began new lives as free people in British territories worldwide.

Revolutionary War's Racial Reality

The real story of Black Americans in the Revolution exposes the central lie of July 4th mythology. This was a war between two colonial powers, with Black Americans forced to choose which offered them the better chance at liberation.

James Lafayette, Revolutionary War spy returned to slavery after victory.

Most chose Britain because British promises, however strategically motivated, were more reliable than American promises of universal liberty that explicitly excluded them. The numbers tell the story. Roughly 20,000 Black Americans sided with Britain versus 8,000 with the Patriots, a ratio of about 2.5 to 1.

Those who chose America often did so hoping the revolution's ideals would eventually include them. Some northern states did begin gradual emancipation after the war. But many Black Patriots died still enslaved, having bet their lives on a freedom that never materialized.

The thousands who evacuated with British forces were refugees from American slavery, seeking the liberty that the "land of the free" denied them. They established some of the first large-scale free Black communities in the Atlantic world, from Nova Scotia to Sierra Leone.

Modern Implications of Hidden History

Every July 4th, America celebrates a sanitized version of its founding that erases the choices Black Americans actually made when freedom was on the line. We're told to honor the founders' vision of liberty while ignoring that most Black Americans who lived through the Revolution judged that vision inadequate and chose differently.

Black Loyalists evacuating to Nova Scotia with British forces, 1783.

The same mythology that turns a slaveholding revolution into a pure freedom struggle shapes how we understand racial justice today. When we pretend the founding was about universal liberty rather than white independence, we make current racial inequalities seem like deviations from American values rather than continuations of them.

So tomorrow, when the fireworks light up the sky and the speeches celebrate American liberty, remember the 20,000 Black Americans who saw through the contradiction and chose differently. They understood that freedom isn't about what flag you salute, but whether that flag represents your liberation or your continued oppression.

The British offered imperfect freedom, but it was freedom nonetheless. America offered perfect rhetoric about liberty while maintaining perfect bondage. For Black Americans in 1776, the choice was obvious, even if it meant fighting against the country that would eventually, grudgingly, centuries later, acknowledge their humanity.

But here's the grim reality: stories like these 20,000 Black Americans who fought for British freedom are being systematically erased from American classrooms and museums.

Right now, state legislatures are banning discussions of how enslaved people made rational choices about which side offered real liberation. School boards are removing any Revolutionary War content that complicates the "patriots vs. tyrants" narrative.

Even the Smithsonian, which published research on Black British soldiers just months ago, is now facing pressure to present a "more patriotic" version of American history. The same institutions that should preserve these complex truths are proving they can't withstand political demands for sanitized history.

The reality is stark: we need independent historians documenting these stories before they disappear entirely from public memory.

Right now, less than 4% of my followers are paid subscribers. What could we accomplish with more support?

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 At 5% paid subscribers: I could research the descendants of Black Loyalists who evacuated to Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone, families whose freedom stories contradict everything we're told about the Revolution.

📚 At 10% paid subscribers: I could create detailed documentation of which Revolutionary War exhibits are being "revised" to remove Black British soldiers entirely.

🎓 At 20% paid subscribers: We could develop educational materials about the real choices Black Americans made in 1776 for schools where this nuanced history is being banned.

I'm going to be very upfront: You might be thinking someone else will step up to fund this work, but that's exactly what everyone else is thinking too—this only works if each one of us contributes what we can, which is just the cost of a coffee each month.

This isn't just about keeping a newsletter alive. It's about preserving the truth before it’s erased to protect comfortable patriotic narratives.

So seriously. Will you join me in this journey?

References

1. Sellick, Gary. "From Slavery to Soldiering: The Military Experience of the Carolina Corps, 1782-1816." Ph.D. dissertation, 2018.

2. Zielinski, Adam E. "Fighting For Freedom: African Americans Choose Sides During the American Revolution." American Battlefield Trust, December 11, 2023.

3. Gidick, Kinsey. "These Black Soldiers Fought for the British During the American Revolution in Exchange for Freedom From Slavery." Smithsonian Magazine, December 12, 2024.

4. Dobyns, Lloyd. "Fighting... Maybe for Freedom, but Probably Not." Colonial Williamsburg Journal, Autumn 2007.

5. "Black Founders Big Idea 2: Black Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolutionary War." Museum of the American Revolution.

6. "Freedom Denied? Enslaved Soldiers During the Revolution." Fort Stanwix National Monument, February 1, 2022.

7. Ayres, Edward. "African Americans and the American Revolution." American Revolution Museum at Yorktown.