What Role Did African Americans Play In The Revolutionary War

The Revolutionary War was a war fought by the Patriots and would not have been a victory for the Americans if it weren’t for the important groups of people who played major roles. The women, African-Americans, and the foreigners all played important roles in the fight for independence against Great Britain.
Before the Revolutionary War started there was the French and Indian War, which was a costly battle for the Ohio Valley. Following the war, Britain needed money to pay for the costs which caused them to tax colonists without their consent or representation. This angered the colonists which caused a series of events which was the beginning of a rebellion. After years of injustice, the colonists finally went to war.
Women, even though they

had less power and authority than the men still participated in the victory. When Abigail Adams wrote her husband a letter in 1776, she said to be kind and giving to the women and not to put all the authority and power in the men (Doc. 1). What Abigail meant was that the men of the country shouldn’t possess all the power because the women had roles too. Tina Ann Nguyen wrote in “Americans Athenas: Women in the Revolution,” even though some women sewed uniforms and knitted stockings for the soldiers, others had to take over as weavers, carpenters, blacksmiths and even shipbuilders (Doc 2). Also, in the war not only men participated but women did too. Deborah Sampson was a soldier in the Revolutionary War who was known as “Robert Shirtliffe” (Doc 2). Molly Pitcher was also a woman who fought in the war because when her husband collapsed from exhaustion she took over and reloaded the canon (Doc 3).
African-Americans also participated in the fight for independence in 1775. Robert Selig wrote in “The Revolution’s Black Soldiers” that the Militia Act of 1775 needed all free males between ages of 16-50 to be forced into companies except blacks but freemen were accepted “without arms” (Doc 5). The reason why so many slaves joined the Revolution was because they knew the true meaning “patriot rhetoric” and fought in the early battles with Britain because of it (Doc 6). Peter Salem was a black soldier in the group when the British attacked the Americans in The Battle of Bunker Hill and was honored for firing the shot that killed Major John Pitcairn (Doc 6).
The foreigners were also a great asset when it came to the war. Even though the British Cartoon of the French is drawn to reveal the French army is a joke the Americans would have had more of a difficult time fighting the British without them (Doc 8). When the foreigners first came they provided professional military knowledge which was something the Continental army desperately needed (Doc 7). Louis DuPortail and Thaddeus Kosciuszko advanced the art of engineering in the army and Johann de Kalb and Fredrich Willhelm von Steuben (Germans) and Marquis de Lafayette (a French man) also participated as trainers and leaders (Doc 7).
The Revolutionary war was a victory won by the women, African-Americans, foreigners and colonists. Without the support of one of these groups, the war would have been a failure or a lot more difficult to win. It was a war fought for independence that has changed America for the better.