BFW Revisited: The American Revolution's African American Soldiers

Ben Franklin's World

Liz Covart

History, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 February 2026

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

More than 6,000 Black men—free and enslaved—served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Yet their stories remain some of the least told of the war. In this revisited episode, we rejoin Judith Van Buskirk, Professor Emerita of History at SUNY Cortland and author of Standing in Their Own Light: African American Patriots in the American Revolution, to explore what motivated African American men to fight for the Revolutionary cause, how the Continental Army's policies toward Black enlistment shifted over the course of the war, and what life and service looked like in units like the First Rhode Island Regiment.Judy's Book Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/403RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 016: The Internal Enemy🎧 Episode 118: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island🎧 Episode 123: Revolutionary Allegiances🎧 Episode 433: Haiti, France, and the American War for Independence SUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫 liz@benfranklinsworld.comWHEN YOU'RE READY🗞️ BFW Gazette Newsletter 👩‍💻 Join the BFW Listener Community🌍 Join the History Explorers ClubTAKE THE QUIZ🧭 Discover How You Explore History (under 2 minutes)👉 https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/quizLISTEN 🎧🍎 Apple Podcasts 💚 Spotify 🎶 Amazon Music🛜 PandoraCONNECT🦋 Liz on Bluesky👩‍💻 Liz on LinkedIn🛜 Liz’s WebsiteSAY THANKS💜 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts💚 Leave a rating on Spotify*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:29.9	What does Sputnik have to do with student loans? How did a set of trembling hands end the Soviet
0:36.2	Union? How did inflation kill moon bases?
0:39.8	And how did a former president decide to run for a second non-consecutive term?
0:44.7	These are among the topics we deal with on the My History Can Beat Up Your Politics Podcast.
0:49.3	We tell stories of history that relate to today's news events.
0:54.0	Give a listen. My history can feed up your
0:56.3	politics wherever you get podcasts. You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.
1:10.5	Hello and welcome to Ben Franklin's World Revisited, a series of classic episodes that bring fresh perspective to our latest episodes and had deeper connections to our understanding of early American history.
1:22.2	And I'm your host, Liz Covart.
1:24.9	In our last episode, episode 433, we heard about the story of the Chaucer's Volunteers de Saint-Dome,
1:31.8	a black regiment of soldiers from the French colony of San Doming, present-day Haiti,
1:36.1	who fought with and on behalf of the American Revolutionaries at the siege of Savannah in 1779.
1:42.3	Now, the Chaucer's service proved critical in that battle, and it raises
1:46.0	important questions for us to explore, such as what did military experience for black soldiers
1:51.3	look like during the American Revolution? What motivated black men to enlist? And what did they hope
	...

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