From Andrew Breitbart's Big Government.com

by Publius

Today, in 1866, the Democratic government in New Orleans ordered a raid on a racially integrated meeting of the Republican Party. 40 people were killed and 150 were injured. Remember.

Blacks in the Revolutionary War

Emerging from the Shadows, 1775-1819:
Blacks in the Revolutionary War
The American Revolution was not broadly supported by whites, and the revolutionary leaders, who acted out of their commercial interest, found it difficult to recruit anyone else to fight for them. For example, it was necessary to promise political rights to "Sons of Liberty" recruited from Boston workers, and farmers in Massachusets were offered Indian land in upper New York state as a bribe. Not surprisingly, then, especially since there was no real conviction that Blacks were inherently inferior, the white ruling class recruited Blacks to be fighters and die for their cause.
Connecticut was rather slow to bring Blacks into its militias, and so Blacks who sought to gain land or freedom through the war had to join the militias in neighboring states. For example, the Black Rhode Island Regiment fought at the important Battle of White Plains.
Shown here is the flag of the Bucks of America, c. 1786, (Courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society) which was a Massachusetts unit that was almost entirely Black. At the upper left is a square with the gold stars of the thirteen original colonies on a blue ground, and a buck is leaping near a pine tree. Many members of this unit came from Hartford and elsewhere in Connecticut before Blacks were allowed into the Connecticut militia.

Copy of the Honorable Discharge for Brister Baker, 1783, from Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, by William C. Nell. Brister Baker was a Black soldier who fought in the Second Connecticut Regiment. The meritorious discharge notes that Baker was enlisted into the Army in April 1777 and served six years faithfully. The discharge does not make note of the fact that Baker was Black, as would census records in the next century when biological racism emerged.

Of course, the issues over which the War of Independence were fought was a matter of complete indifference to Blacks because they were not involved in commerce. Consequently, there had to be rewards. Pensions were an obvious choice, for they did not make the recipient a property owner able to vote. If the person happened to be a slave, the obvious thing to do with his pension reward would be to assign it over to their owners to pay for their freedom. Here is a pension receipt for the Black soldier, Gad Asher, signed with his mark on 4 March, 1795. While Asher was from New Haven at the time, his son, Jeremiah Asher, later moved to Hartford where his descendents continued to live.

Oh, there's more...

We Will Not Be Silenced Producer on Fox and Friends

Late to the party...but I'm here now.

We Will Not Be Silenced - Part 1

We Will Not Be Silenced - Part 2

We Will Not Be Silenced - Part 3

We Will Not Be Silenced - Part 4

All I can say to the allegations put forth here is that we've got our work cut out for us.

Blacks and women gained the right to vote in...?

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Woman to Vote in America

If that includes "in the area that later became the United States," there are some candidates.
Some Native American women had rights to voice and what we might now call a vote, before European settlers arrive. The question usually refers to women voters in the new governments established by European settlers and their descendants.
European settlers and their descendants? The evidence is sketchy. Women property-owners were sometimes given and sometimes exercised the right to vote during colonial times.

• In 1647, Margaret Brent of Maryland colony assumed her right to vote twice -- once for herself as a property owner and once for Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, because he had given her a power of attorney. The governor denied her request.
• Deborah Moody, in 1655, cast a vote in New Netherlands (which later became New York). She had the right to vote because she had a land grant in her own name.

First Woman to Vote in the United States After Independence

Because women in New Jersey had the right to vote from 1776-1807, and there were no records kept of what time each voted in the first election there, the name of the first woman in the United States to vote (after independence) is likely lost in the mists of history.
Later, other jurisdictions granted women the vote, sometimes for limited purpose (such as Kentucky allowing women to vote in school board elections beginning in 1838).
Here are some candidates for the title of "first woman to vote":

• Unknown. New Jersey gave "all inhabitants" and thus women the right to vote in its state constitution, 1776, then rescinded this right in 1807. The 1807 bill also rescinded the right of black men to vote.

From "Black Patriots of the American Revolution" by David Barton: James Armistead (Lafayette) (1760-1832)

James Armistead was one of the most important American spies during the Revolution. As a slave in Virginia, he witnessed much of the War; and following the British siege of Richmond in 1781, he asked his master, William Armistead, for permission to serve in the cause of American independence with General Marquis de Lafayette, a young Frenchman who came to fight with the Americans. His master agreed, and Lafayette accepted his services. Lafayette dispatched Armistead to the camp of the patriot-turned-traitor, Benedict Arnold (then a British general), to pose as an escaped slave looking for work. Arnold accepted Armistead and allowed him to work in the camp, thus placing him around other British generals, including British commander-in-chief Lord Cornwallis. Armistead obtained much vital information about British plans and troop movements, which he daily sent to General Lafayette. Ironically, Lord Cornwallis so trusted Armistead that he even asked him to become a British spy to watch the Americans. Armistead agreed and thus became a double-spy, feeding accurate information to the Americans and inaccurate information to the British. Upon learning that the British fleet was moving Cornwallis and his troops to Yorktown, Armistead quickly relayed that information to Lafayette and Washington, who gathered the American forces at Yorktown. After the British troops had landed and the British fleet had unsuspectingly departed from Chesapeake Bay, the Americans engaged the British while the French fleet blockaded the Bay to keep the British navy from returning. The Battle of Yorktown ensued, and the British – without their navy to provide reinforcements or supplies and with no way to retreat off the peninsula on which they were trapped – finally surrendered. Armistead’s crucial information had helped bring a victorious end to the American Revolution.
Following the War, Armistead returned to slavery on his master’s plantation. Three years later, in 1784, General Lafayette returned to America for a visit and met with his friend, Armistead. Lafayette penned a certificate to Virginia leaders praising the work and important contributions of Armistead. Armistead then petitioned the legislature for his freedom, which was granted on New Year’s Day, 1787. (In his latter years, Armistead also received a retirement pension from the State for his military services.) Following his emancipation, Armistead adopted the name Lafayette and thereafter called himself James Lafayette. He remained in the State as a farmer.
General Lafayette became an ardent foe of slavery both in America and in Europe, and it is believed that it was his association with James Armistead that helped clarify his views on slavery, leading him to begin his strong public crusade against that evil.
In 1824, General Lafayette made his final visit to America; his tour across the nation was greeted by crowds of thousands in city after city. When touring Richmond, the General recognized in the crowd his black comrade from four decades earlier (now an old man) and called him out by name and embraced him – the last time the two patriot friends were to meet.

More from "COLORED PATRIOTS AMERICAN REVOLUTION, WITH SKETCHES OF SEVERAL DISTINGUISHED COLORED PERSONS" by William C. Nell

James Easton, of Bridgewater, was one who participated in the erection of the fortifications on Dorchester Heights, under command of Washington, which the next morning so greatly surprised the British soldiers then encamped in Boston.

Mr. Easton was a manufacturing blacksmith, and his forge and nail factory, where were also made edge tools and anchors, was extensively known, for its superiority of workmanship. Much of the iron work for the Tremont Theatre and Boston Marine Railway was executed under his supervision. Mr. Easton was self-educated. When a young man, stipulating for work, he always provided for chances of evening study. He was welcome to the business circles of Boston as a man of strict integrity, and the many who resorted to him for advice in complicated matters styled him " the Black Lawyer." His sons, Caleb, Joshua, Sylvanus, and Hosea, inherited his mechanical genius and mental ability.

The family were victims, however, to the spirit of colorphobia, then rampant in New England, and were persecuted even to the dragging out of some of the family from the Orthodox Church^in which, on its enlargement, a porch had been erected, exclusively for colored people. After this disgraceful occurrence, the Easton's left the church. They afterwards purchased a pew in the Baptist church at Stoughton Corner, which excited a great deal of indignation. Not succeeding in their attempt to have the bargain cancelled, the people tarred the pew. The next Sunday, the family carried seats in the waggon. The pew was then pulled down ; but the family sat in the aisle. These indignities were continued until the separation of the family.

Hosea Easton published a Treatise on the Intellectual Condition of the Colored People, in which was shown the heart of a philanthropist and the head of a philosopher. His work did great execution among those who proclaim the innate inferiority of colored men. Here is a chapter from his experience : —

" I, as an individual, have had a sufficient opportunity to know something about prejudice and its destructive effects. At an early period of my life, I was extensively engaged in mechanism, associated with a number of other colored men, of master spirits and great minds. The enterprise was followed for about twenty years perseveringly, in direct opposition to public sentiment and the tide of popular prejudice. So intent were the parties in carrying out the principles of intelligent, active freemen, that they sacrificed every thought of comfort and ease to the object. The most rigid economy was adhered to, at home and abroad. A regular school was established for the youth connected with the factory; the rules of morality were supported with surprising assiduity, and ardent spirits found no place in the establishment. After the expenditure of this vast amount of labor and time, together with many thousands of dollars, the enterprise ended in a total failure. By reason of the repeated surges of the tide of prejudice, the establishment, like a ship in a boisterous hurricane at sea, went beneath the waves, —richly laden, well manned and well managed, sank to rise no more. It fell, and with it fell the hearts of several of its projectors in despair, and their bodies into their graves."

Civil Rights Platforms of Both Parties

Ever wonder what the parties have said throughout history concerning civil rights? This should do it.

Yep, colored patriots. Black, specifically...

The following anecdote of Primus is extracted from Godey's Lady's Book for June, 1849, to which it was communicated by Rev. Henry F. Harrington : —

"Throughout the Revolutionary War, Primus Hall was the body servant of Col. Pickering, of Massachusetts. He was free and communicative, and delighted to sit down with an interested listener and pour out those stores of absorbing and exciting anecdotes with which his memory was stored.

" It is well known that there was no officer in the whole American army whose memory was dearer to Washington, and whose counsel was more esteemed by him, than that of the honest and patriotic Col. Pickering. He was on intimate terms with him, and unbosomed himself to him with as little reserve as, perhaps, to any confidant in the army. Whenever he was stationed within such a distance as to admit of it, he passed many hours with the Colonel, consulting him upon anticipated measures, and delighting in his reciprocated friendship.

" Washington was, therefore, often brought into contact with the servant of Col. Pickering, the departed Primus. An opportunity was afforded to the negro to note him, under circumstances very different from those in which he is usually brought before the public, and which possess, therefore, a striking charm. I remember two of these anecdotes from the mouth of Primus. One of them is very slight, indeed, yet so peculiar as to be replete with interest The authenticity of both may be fully relied upon.

" Washington once came to Col. Pickering's quarters, and found him absent.

" ' It is no matter,' said he to Primus ; ' I am greatly in need of exercise. You must help me to get some before your master returns.'

" Under Washington's directions, the negro busied himself in some simple preparations. A stake was driven into the ground about breast high, a rope tied to it, and then Primus was desired to stand at some distance and hold it horizontally extended. The boys, the country over, are familiar with this plan of getting sport. With true boyish zest, Washington ran forwards and backwards for some t time, jumping over the rope as he came and went, until he - expressed himself satisfied with the ' exercise.'

"Repeatedly afterwards, when a favorable opportunity offered, he would say — 'Come, Primus, lam in need of exercise ;' whereat the negro would drive down the stake, and Washington would jump over the rope until he had exerted himself to his content.

" On the second occasion, the great General was engaged in earnest consultation with Col. Pickering in his tent until after the night had fairly set in. Head-quarters were at a considerable distance, and Washington signified his preference to staying with the Colonel over night, provided he had a spare blanket and straw.

" ' O, yes,' said Primus, who was appealed to ; ' plenty of straw and blankets-—plenty.'

" Upon this assurance, Washington continued his conference with the Colonel until it was time to retire to rest. Two humble beds were spread, side by side, in the tent, and the officers laid themselves down, while Primus seemed to be busy with duties that required his attention before he himself could sleep. He worked, or appeared to- work, until the breathing of the prostrate gentlemen satisfied him that they were sleeping ; and then, seating himself upon a box or stool, he leaned his head on his hands to obtain such repose as so inconvenient a position would allow. In the middle of the night, Washington awoke. He looked about, and descried the negro as he sat. He gazed at him awhile, and then spoke.

" ' Primus !' said he, calling; ' Primus !'

" Primus started up and rubbed his eyes. ' What, General ? ' said he.

" Washington rose up in his bed. ' Primus,' said he, ' what did you mean by saying that you had blankets and straw enough ? Here you have given up your blanket and straw to me, that I may sleep comfortably, while you are obliged to sit through the night.'

'"It's nothing, General,' said Primus. 'It's nothing. I 'm well enough. Don't trouble yourself about me, General, but go to sleep again. No matter about me. I sleep very good.'

"'But it is matter—it is matter,' said Washington, earnestly. ' I cannot do it, Primus. If either is to sit up, I will. But I think there is no need of either sitting up. The blanket is wide enough for two. Come and lie down here with me.'

" ' O, no, General!' said Primus, starting, and protesting against the proposition. ' No ; let me sit here. I'll do very well on the stool.'

"' I say, come and lie down here!' said Washington, authoritatively. ' There is room for both, and I insist upon it!'

" He threw open the blanket as he spoke, and moved to one side of the straw. Primus professes to have been exceedingly shocked at the idea of lying under the same covering with the commander-in-chief, but his tone was so resolute and determined that he could not hesitate. He prepared himself, therefore, and laid himself down by Washington, and on the same straw, and under the same blanket, the General and the negro servant slept until morning."