Slavery and the American Revolution: Declaring Independence

Over long eight years of war, both the Continental Army and the British Army appealed to black Americans for manpower. This lecture argues that how African Americans responded to the call to arms and the chaos of war reveals their own declarations of independence. 

Dr. Richard Bell is Associate Professor of History at the University of Maryland. He holds a PhD from Harvard University and is author of the new book Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and their Astonishing Odyssey Home. He has won more than a dozen teaching awards, including the University System of Maryland Board of Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has held major research fellowships at Yale, Cambridge, and the Library of Congress and is the recipient of the National Endowment of the Humanities Public Scholar award. He serves as a Trustee of the Maryland Historical Society, as an elected member of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, and as a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

An invitation to join this online workshop will be sent to participants 1-2 days prior to the event