From the very beginning to the end of the Revolutionary War, men and women of color fought for American independence as soldiers, seamen, wagoners, skilled craftsmen, servants, laborers, etc. Revealing their identities and individual stories is the goal of our research efforts.

The database on this web site is a summary of a portion of the information so far collected for each Patriot. This is the beginning of an extensive project, and we wanted to make these data available at the outset to encourage more research and scholarship.

Funding for research was provided by Richard Gilder, James Basker and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, Joseph Dooley and the Sons of the American Revolution, David Roux, and the W. E. B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University.