Millions of African Americans are unknowingly descendants of Black patriots of the American Revolution. Why did Black soldiers fight alongside General Washington in the American Revolutionary War without guarantees of freedom and citizenship rights for their families? Black communities celebrated the military service of their verterans to American victory; hence, why has their history been mostly forgotten?

What are the consequences of omitting Black patriots from the origins of the United States? African American veterans have fought for freedom and full citizenship rights, in addition to serving in every conflict of the US military. Discover more with Bakari Historical Services .

Black and White patriot troops shared a common interest in overthrowing Great Britain to secure American independence, despite slavery being in all 13 provinces. Why was the United States divided after the war on issues of race, slavery, emancipation, and citizenship rights for free Black Americans? What are the legacies of these unresolved national issues?

What did Black people think of the 1776 spirit? In 1777, in a written petition, the Blacks of Boston stated, "they have in common with all other men a natural and unalienable right to that freedom...bestowed equally on all mankind." What are some of the legacies and inheritances of the first generation of African Americans today? Discover more with BHS services.

Are we Americans still using language or racial categorizations from the 1600s? How were a person's race and status as a free person, a servant, or a slave gradually determined by colonial laws? When did children born only to enslaved Black women inherit the condition of slavery?

Why did the Virginia General Assembly and other colonies create laws that governed Native Americans and people of African descent, both free and enslaved, differently than Europeans and American-born Whites? When did the term White versus English, originate as a common legal term? Learn more surprises about the evolution of race and status in early British North America/United States and its legacies. Discover more with Bakari Historical Services.

Why did the Virginia legislature create a law in 1691 for the prevention of “negroes, mulattoes, and Indians" from "intermarrying with English, or other white women"? Why was it necessary to include race and genealogy in laws that prohibited and punished couples’ interracial relationships or marriages, and their biracial children? But what can history, genealogy, and DNA evidence reveal?

Why did most free Blacks have multiracial ancestry prior to the American Revolution? How did the free Black communities create the foundation of African American businesses, organizations, and institutions? Discover more with Bakari Historical Services.

What if you wanted immediate freedom by any means necessary? What risks would you have taken if you were enslaved during the American Revolution? After the British offered immediate freedom to slaves in exchange for military service, both free and enslaved Blacks had the option of supporting the American or British cause.

But how did thousands of enslaved Black men flee and pick up firearms in service to the King of England, and why did thousands of Black women and children escape to support the British Army despite the risk of capture, disease, and death? Following their defeat, White and Black loyalists evacuated to British territories. Did Black loyalist achieve freedom and self-determination in their new destinations? Discover more with BHS.

Was it actually illegal for slaves to learn to read or write? Despite popular belief, is the truth in the details? Were literacy, Christianity, and skilled tradesmen related? Were literacy, Christianity, and skillful tradespeople related? How should one interpret this 1768 Virginia Gazette runaway slave advertisement: “Charles…He is a sawyer and shoemaker by trade…said fellow reads tolerable well, and is a great preacher…”

Before the Atlantic Slave Trade, did West Africans have a tradition of reading or writing? Discover the origins of Black literacy in early America, both spiritual and secular. What are the social and educational implications of omitting this legacy? Discover more with BHS services.

Can some aspects of African American culture be traced back to the colonial 1600s and 1700s, such as music, folklore, worship, community, language, and resistance?

Why were gatherings of Black people feared, and why couldn’t colonial authorities stop “meetings” of free and enslaved people of African origin since the 1600s? A Virginia law revealed that slaves were “being p’mitted to mete together upon Satterdayes & Sundayes…to consult of unlawfull p’jects &. frequent meeting of consideable numbers of negroe slaves under pretence of feasts and burialls …” Through subjects of daily life, family, housing, labor, food, music, and religion, learn about the origins and legacies of African American cultures. Discover more with BHS services.

What actually happened? Were African captives kidnapped or prisoners of warfare fighting to defend their homeland? How did people characterize the Atlantic Slave Trade in the past: In 1774, in a written petition, the Blacks of Boston stated, “…Unjustly Dragged by the hand of cruel Power…in violation of Laws of Nature and of Nations and in Defiance of…humanity.” In the original draft of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson stated, "...it is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain..."

What are some of the cultural, religious, or geographical legacies of the slave trade, and how did it transform the wealth and power of Europe and its American colonies? Discover more with BHS services.

Did the slave trade and slavery become dangerous because of rebellions in the Caribbean from the 1600s to the 1800s? This introductory theme explores how resistance abroad affected the lives of free and enslaved Blacks in British North American /United States.

Virginia Governor Gooch wrote in 1729 about a group of slaves who escaped with firearms and established a settlement in the mountains. After they were captured, Gov. Gooch warned White society that slaves could create “a design which might have proved dangerous to this Country, as is that of the Negroes in Jamaica to the Inhabitants of that Island…” Self-emancipated Africans were known as maroons who established settlements in remote regions.. Discover more with BHS services.

What revelations about your ancestry could history, genealogy, and DNA reveal? For centuries, African American family lines were fragmented by the White, Native American, or free Black families who owned them and by events like the Atlantic Slave Trade, American slavery, and the domestic slave trade.

Discover a fundamental introduction to the history, genealogy, and DNA of Africans and African Americans. The 1870 U.S. Census, which was the first census to identify 4 million former slaves and free Blacks as citizens. This is where many African Americans start their family genealogical research. Discover more with Bakari Historical Services.