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How did African Americans
contribute to the Enlightenment?
0 The Enlightenment helped to develop the careers of the
first black intellectuals
0 Some African Americans became scientists and authors
0 Phillis Wheatley and Benjamin Banneker, the most famous
intellectuals, contributed the first published works by
African Americans
0 Most African Americans who gained intellectual distinction
in this period owed more to the Great Awakening than to
the Enlightenment
What was Phillis Wheatley’s attitude
towards white culture and the American
Revolution?
0 She was an advocate and symbol of the adoption of white
culture by black people
T’was mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there’s a God, that there’s a Saviour too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew
0 Patriot
0 Argues that perceived black inferiority was the result of
enslavement
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
“Their color is a diabolic dye.”
Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain
May be refin’d, and join th’angelic train.
To be or not to be… a racist
0 In his initial draft of the DoI,
he denounced the British
government’s role in the
international slave trade,
which he opposed as
inhumane
0 Participated in the domestic
slave trade
0 Believed to have fathered
children with a female slave
(Sally Hemings)
0 Held racist assumptions about
the innate black inferiority
Who was Benjamin
Banneker?
0 He gained international fame as a mathematician
and astronomer
0 First black civilian employee of the U.S. government
0 Published an almanac based on his observations
and mathematical calculations
How did Benjamin Banneker’s contribute to
the discussions concerning human equality?
0 He sent Thomas Jefferson a copy of his almanac to
refute Jefferson’s claim that black people were
inherently inferior intellectually to white people
0 Called Jefferson to account regarding the
contradiction between Revolutionary freedom and
slavery
0 “The Negro’s role in the Revolution can best be
understood by realizing that his major loyalty was not
to a place nor to a people, but to a principle.”
-Benjamin Quarles
What Roles did African Americans
play in the War for Independence?
0 African Americans fought on both the
Patriot and Loyalist sides.
0 In 1775, Washington forbade the enlistment
of new black troops and the reenlistment of
existing ones. However, as the war
proceeded, necessity compelled the repeal
of this policy.
0 Black Patriots fought in nearly every major
battle of the Revolutionary war.
Why did General Washington Forbid
the Enlistment of Black Troops?
0 Feared it would encourage slaves to leave their
masters without permission
0 Feared that armed black men would endanger the
social order
0 Believed black men were too cowardly to be effective
soldiers
How did the American
Revolution Weaken Slavery?
0 The willingness of African Americans to fight for the
Patriot cause encouraged northern legislatures to
consider emancipation.
0 Economic changes encourages this.
0 Northern emancipation made steady progress