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American History Mondays with Dr. Richard Bell: Revolutionary Struggle
The American Revolution was a transformative moment in African American history, a freedom war second only to the Civil War in significance. African Americans threw themselves into the revolutionary war effort with more enthusiasm and with more at stake than did many white colonists. The chaos of the war brought many enslaved men new opportunities for independence as the British Army promised freedom to those who might be willing to desert their rebel masters and join the King’s regiments. What, then, did the Revolution look like from the perspective of African American soldiers, cooks, and support personal who fought on one or side or the other? How did Black Americans seize the unique opportunities provided by the war to declare their independence from slavery? Note: this seminar repeats content from lecture one of the course ‘Slavery and the American Revolution.’
Dr. Richard Bell is Professor of History at the University of Maryland. He holds a PhD from Harvard University and 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, the Library of Congress and is the recipient of the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship and the National Endowment of the Humanities Public Scholar Award. Professor Bell is author of the new book "Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and their Astonishing Odyssey Home," which was shortlisted for the George Washington Prize and the Harriet Tubman Prize.
This conversation is suitable for all ages.
90 minutes, including a 30 minute Q&A.