Black Enlightenment

Black Enlightenment

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 peopleT’was mercy brought me from my Pagan land,

Taught my benighted soul to understandThat 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 CainMay 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?

0He gained international fame as a mathematician and astronomer

0First black civilian employee of the U.S. government0Published an almanac based on his observations

and mathematical calculations

How did Benjamin Banneker’s contribute to the discussions concerning human equality?

0He sent Thomas Jefferson a copy of his almanac to refute Jefferson’s claim that black people were inherently inferior intellectually to white people

0Called Jefferson to account regarding the contradiction between Revolutionary freedom and slavery

Revolutionary War

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?

0African Americans fought on both the Patriot and Loyalist sides.

0In 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.

0Black Patriots fought in nearly every major battle of the Revolutionary war.

Why did General Washington Forbid the Enlistment of Black Troops?

0Feared it would encourage slaves to leave their masters without permission

0Feared that armed black men would endanger the social order

0Believed black men were too cowardly to be effective soldiers

The Revolution and

Emancipation

How did the American Revolution Weaken Slavery?0The willingness of African Americans to fight for the

Patriot cause encouraged northern legislatures to consider emancipation.

0Economic changes encourages this.

0Northern emancipation made steady progress