Sharpton, Urging Black Americans To Skip America250, Erases Contributions by Patriots of African Descent

The Reverend Al Sharpton is urging black Americans to skip the nation’s 250th anniversary. Doing so will perpetuate the injustices being done to Americans of African descent by erasing their contributions to the Revolution and denying them their place in history.“We were slaves then,” Mr. Sharpton said on Wednesday, although the American Battlefield Trust writes that 10 percent of black Americans were then free. “They’re going to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the country July 4th, but that’s not our celebration.”Mr. Sharpton said that “we were not even emancipated until 1863,” by which time 19 of the 35 states had prohibited or restricted slavery. “It seems crazy for me to have on the birthday hat at your birthday party. That ain’t my party.” This ignores that black soldiers fought from Lexington and Bunker Hill through the last battle of the war, Yorktown. At the Boston Massacre, Crispus Attucks was the war’s first martyr. At Englewood, New Jersey, where Mr. Sharpton bought a garden apartment in 1991, patriots raised a Liberty Pole in 1766 to taunt the British. Today, at a corner of Lafayette Avenue, a replica stands in that predominantly black neighborhood. A plaque commemorates it and a skirmish at the Liberty Pole Tavern between General “Light Horse” Harry Lee and loyalists to George III.Lee’s force was integrated. That may surprise Mr. Sharpton, but it was common. “Between 5,000-8,000 people of African descent served with the Continental Army,” writes the Museum of the American Revolution. “Thousands of others served in state militias and at sea” even after President Washington “tried to expel” them.Rather than go home to safety, black soldiers lobbied General Washington to stay in uniform. Witnessing their bravery during the Siege of Boston and knowing that the British were recruiting them changed the general’s mind along with that of many white Americans.During Black History Month in 2024, the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution noted that “black patriots … fought in every major battle in the Revolution.” Some of the surnames in the 6th Connecticut Regiment — Pomp Liberty, Cuff and Jube Freedom — reflect their allegiance.When the Royal Navy captured James Forten aboard a privateer, they offered him education in the U.K. “I have been taken prisoner for the liberties of my country,” he replied, “and never will prove a traitor to her interest.” He spent seven months as a prisoner of war aboard an infamous “coffin ship,” Jersey, accepting the same torment as his white crewmates.Prince Whipple, a volunteer and Washington’s bodyguard, is believed to be depicted in one of America’s most iconic paintings: “Washington Crossing the Delaware.” Other black men, including Oliver Cromwell, made that daring raid on Christmas Eve 1776 as did President Monroe.That victory at the Battle of Trenton saved the patriot cause. A year prior, when Virginia’s royal governor offered freedom to slaves joining the British, James Armistead — who volunteered his services to Washington’s aide-de-camp, the Marquis de Lafayette — posed as a runaway behind enemy lines.Acting as a double agent, Armistead earned the confidence of the American traitor, General Benedict Arnold, and reported his secrets back to Washington. By 1781 at the Siege of Yorktown, one in four soldiers was black, and Armistead infiltrated the headquarters of the British general, Charles Cornwallis.The resulting Continental victory sealed independence. Armistead, gaining his freedom in 1787, changed his name to James Lafayette. Black patriots like him hoped they’d share in the promise of “all men are created equal.”By Independence Day 1852, however, Frederick Douglass was disillusioned. “What, to the slave, is the Fourth of July?” he asked, lamenting that he was “not included within the pale of glorious anniversary.” But after the Civil War, the orator who’d been born enslaved embraced the celebration of freedom, claiming the share of joy and distinction that those black patriots had earned.Thanks to those like Douglass, President Obama — who has a Continental ancestor, Private John Overall — was elected in 2008. It was the culmination of the dream America will celebrate on July 4. Why would any civil rights veteran want to ignore the Liberty Pole and the black soldiers and sailors who rallied to its cause?

Sharpton, Urging Black Americans To Skip America250, Erases Contributions by Patriots of African Descent

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