“From the segregated Stratton High School in Beckley, West Virginia, to the prestigious Howard University in Washington, DC, to years of law enforcement in our nation’s capital, Bill Ritchie has found himself a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. We have often asked, how? And why? Throughout his book A Black Man’s Journey to the Sons of the American Revolution, he answers these questions for us.” —Belva Williams Waller, matriarch of the Ritchie Family. “Bill Ritchie’s fascinating journey from rural mountains in West Virginia to celebrated track all-American at Howard University, to chief of detectives in the nation’s capital and his many other successful pursuits is an inspiring study of determination, creativity, and perseverance. His book, A Black Man’s Journey to the Sons of the American Revolution, candidly provides a fleet-footed but comprehensive look at a renaissance man still blazing new and interesting paths.” —Rock Newman, sports and music entrepreneur, executive producer, and host of The Rock Newman Show, former Howard University Trustee. “You have a fascinating history! Can’t wait to read the book.” —Sari Horwitz, author and reporter, recipient of four Pulitzer Prize awards By William O. Ritchie Jr

"From the segregated Stratton High School in Beckley, West Virginia, to the prestigious Howard University in Washington, DC, to years of law enforcement in our nation's capital, Bill Ritchie has found himself a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. We have often asked, how? And why? Throughout his book A Black Man's Journey to the Sons of the American Revolution, he answers these questions for us." -Belva Williams Waller, matriarch of the Ritchie Family. "Bill Ritchie's fascinating journey from rural mountains in West Virginia to celebrated track all-American at Howard University, to chief of detectives in the nation's capital and his many other successful pursuits is an inspiring study of determination, creativity, and perseverance. His book, A Black Man's Journey to the Sons of the American Revolution, candidly provides a fleet-footed but comprehensive look at a renaissance man still blazing new and interesting paths." -Rock Newman, sports and music entrepreneur, executive producer, and host of The Rock Newman Show, former Howard University Trustee. "You have a fascinating history! Can't wait to read the book." -Sari Horwitz, author and reporter, recipient of four Pulitzer Prize awards By William O. Ritchie Jr

On his farm in Maryland, sixteen-year-old Caleb Jacobson waits anxiously for news from Boston: rumors have it that colonials are staging an armed rebellion against the oppressive tyranny of King George III of England and his soldiers. War! Caleb longs to join the volunteer army of General Washington and win the fight for freedom, but he is torn between loyalty to his fellow colonials and his race. Caleb is a free black living in a slave state. He knows firsthand the horrors and hardships of slavery and wonders what good an American victory will do if his fellow blacks remain shackled in bondage. Then comes news that the British Governor Lord Dunmore promises freedom to any slave who joins his army against the Americans. Can he be trusted to keep his word? Caleb will have to choose.

Bestselling author Lauren Tarshis tackles the American Revolution in this latest installment of the groundbreaking, New York Times bestselling I Survived series. Bestselling author Lauren Tarshis tackles the American Revolution in this latest installment of the groundbreaking, New York Times bestselling I Survived series. British soldiers were everywhere. There was no escape. Nathaniel Fox never imagined he'd find himself in the middle of a blood-soaked battlefield, fighting for his life. He was only eleven years old! He'd barely paid attention to the troubles between America and England. How could he, while being worked to the bone by his cruel uncle, Uriah Storch? But when his uncle's rage forces him to flee the only home he knows, Nate is suddenly propelled toward a thrilling and dangerous journey into the heart of the Revolutionary War. He finds himself in New York City on the brink of what will be the biggest battle yet.

Winch has written the first full-length biography of James Forten, a hero of African American history and one of the most remarkable men in 19th-century America. Born into a free black family in 1766, Forten served in the Revolutionary War as a teenager. By 1810 he had earned the distinction of being the leading sailmaker in Philadelphia. Soon after Forten emerged as a leader in Philadelphia's black community and was active in a wide range of reform activities. Especially prominent in national and international antislavery movements, he served as vice-president of the American Anti-Slavery Society and became close friends with William Lloyd Garrison to whom he lent money to start up the Liberator. His family were all active abolitionists and a granddaughter, Charlotte Forten, published a famous diary of her experiences teaching ex-slaves in South Carolina's Sea Islands during the Civil War. This is the first serious biography of Forten, who stands beside Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, and Martin Luther King, Jr., in the pantheon of African Americans who fundamentally shaped American history.

The Revolutionary War encompassed at least two struggles: one for freedom from British rule, and another, quieter but no less significant fight for the liberty of African Americans, thousands of whom fought in the Continental Army. Because these veterans left few letters or diaries, their story has remained largely untold, and the significance of their service largely unappreciated. Standing in Their Own Light restores these African American patriots to their rightful place in the historical struggle for independence and the end of racial oppression. Revolutionary era African Americans began their lives in a world that hardly questioned slavery; they finished their days in a world that increasingly contested the existence of the institution. Judith L. Van Buskirk traces this shift to the wartime experiences of African Americans. Mining firsthand sources that include black veterans’ pension files, Van Buskirk examines how the struggle for independence moved from the battlefield to the courthouse—and how personal conflicts contributed to the larger struggle against slavery and legal inequality. Black veterans claimed an American identity based on their willing sacrifice on behalf of American independence. And abolitionists, citing the contributions of black soldiers, adopted the tactics and rhetoric of revolution, personal autonomy, and freedom. Van Buskirk deftly places her findings in the changing context of the time. She notes the varied conditions of slavery before the war, the different degrees of racial integration across the Continental Army, and the war’s divergent effects on both northern and southern states. Her efforts retrieve black patriots’ experiences from historical obscurity and reveal their importance in the fight for equal rights—even though it would take another war to end slavery in the United States.

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