No portrait of Jeffrey Brace is known, but this sculpture of a proposed figure for the Black Revolutionary War Patriots Memorial honors his service.

News

Explore African American History and the Revolution

Explore the rich and complex stories of African American history and the American Revolution with a variety of resources from the American Revolution Institute. Read about the lives of soldiers Jeffrey Brace and Peter Hunter and the challenges for historians today in documenting the service of free and enslaved black soldiers in the Continental Army. View one of those documents on our Digital Library: a pay receipt signed by Cuff Liberty on behalf of Dick Freedom, two African American soldiers, whose names reflect their aspirations for their country. Watch videos of historians discussing the various circumstances of African American women during the Revolutionary era, the remarkable story of one enslaved woman’s journey through the war and beyond, and the legacy of the Revolution through the civil rights movement. For teachers, explore lesson plans on the legacy of Crispus Attucks and the interpretation of a contemporary painting and essay advocating for the abolition of slavery.

Image: This preliminary figure for a proposed Black Revolutionary War Patriots Memorial in Washington, D.C., was sculpted by Ed Dwight in 1992 and is in the Institute’s museum collections.

 

Events

Author's Talk - Feeding Washington's Army

Join us, Thursday, July 6, at 6:30 p.m., as Ricardo A. Herrara, professor of military history at the U.S. Army Center of Advanced Military Studies, discusses his new book, Feeding Washington’s Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778, a new history of the Continental Army’s Grand Forage of 1778.

 

Exhibitions

Saving Soldiers

American military physicians played as critical a role in the Revolutionary War’s outcome as that of the warriors on the front lines. Saving Soldiers: Medical Treatment in the Revolutionary War draws from the Institute’s collections of rare books, manuscripts, portraits and artifacts to examine medical practice in the Continental Army and the experiences of surgeons and their patients under the dire conditions of war.

Blog

The Mysterious Hero’s Return

Among the most curious treasures in the library of the American Revolution Institute is a monochrome aquatint with etching of a properly dressed gentleman with his left hand gripping the pommel of his sword and his right arm draped around a bare-breasted woman whose […]