Secondary Source
“Though prejudice and discrimination did not evaporate with the first shots at Lexington and Concord Bridge, black servicemen in the war certainly experienced a marked increase in equality throughout the Revolution. Ultimately, as in every armed conflict, soldiers in the trenches and sailors and marines in the forecastle judged men by their performance under fire and in camp rather than the color of their skin as they fought for their country’s liberty, their unit’s pride, and their mutual survival. Blacks who fought on both sides did indeed secure their freedom. Those in the US military were freed and those who joined Lord Dunmore were evacuated as free men to Nova Scotia, the British West Indies, and the newly established African colony of Sierra Leone. Several northern states abolished human servitude in the postwar years, including Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. A few other states initiated measures to slowly eliminate slavery, but the majority of the former colonies continued the practice. In fact, the number of black slaves in the United States increased sevenfold from 500,000 to 3.5 million in the three-quarters of a century from the end of the Revolution until their emancipation during and after the American Civil War. It would not be until the Korean War of the 1950s that African Americans were again permitted to serve in integrated units.”
- Michael Lanning, Historian, “African Americans in the Revolutionary War,” 2005