American Heritage Series | Episode 22 | Great Black Patriots Part 1 | David Barton

[Music] in the fierce battles of the Revolutionary War that birthed our nation both black and white soldiers often fought side by side why then do our classrooms seem to neglect the account of so many of our nation's great black leaders and what spiritual beliefs and influences shape the lives of these great black men and women [Music] discover the forgotten and astonishing story of our nation's foundation in the American heritage series for centuries Americans were taught a truthful view of history that recognized that godly heroes and moral foundation our nation was founded upon but in recent years a new version of history is assaulted the moral and spiritual fiber of our nation living the truth of our past eliminated and forgotten until today join historian David Barton and experience the untold story of our nation's history in the American heritage series the richest parts of American history is in black history and yet today so many of us know so little about it many of our greatest revolutionary heroes were Patriots of African descent we have so many cool stories of black and white serving together fighting together in the revolution and yet what we hear today are the real victim stories which are there no question there but that's only a part of American history many courageous and effective black leaders played pivotal roles in our government as early as the late 1800s if you're going to talk about African American heroes by and large you can have to talk about some Christians and since we don't talk about Christians and textbooks African Americans who really received the brunt of that what is the story and inspiration behind these great Patriots and heroes of the faith and why have so many of their stories remain silent discover our nation's godly history in the American heritage series America this is your heritage America has a rich history full of heroes of all types but the ones we hear the least about or African American heroes African American heroes have been part of American history from the very beginning our tendency in textbooks today is when we tell about black history we started the 1960s and move forward and that's an important area of history dr. Martin Luther King and all the things that went with that the the march of the Selman the march on DC it's all important but that's not where black history starts we have some real heroes of black history that we can take way back to the beginning great example is Richard Allen Richard Allen is an African who became the founder of the first black denomination in America his is a great story he was raised as a slave in Delaware living as a slave on a plantation in Delaware and a Methodist evangelist came riding across that plantation preaching the gospel Richard Allen hears the gospel he gives his life to Christ becomes not only a Christian he becomes a zealous Christian Richard Allen started sharing Christ with everything that moved on that plantation and shortly the slave master became a Christian slave master says what am i doing on his slaves Sir Richard gets his freedom well Richard wants to keep preaching the Gospels he he walks out of that plantation walks out of Delaware going north he ends up in Philadelphia and Philadelphia that time was the nation's third largest city there were 40,000 people in Philadelphia imagine that me the nation's third largest city Richard ends up preaching in a church in Philadelphia were he's preaching at 2,000 people a week now that's a mega church today but that's really a mega church but oh and by the way it was a white church that he was pastoring back then but they didn't do that back then oh yeah there are so many examples of black and white together in early American history that there's definitely racial conflict as you go through parts of history but there was so much cooperation that we never hear about and so Richard Allen the great Patriot that yes actually becomes one of the soldiers in the American Revolution so here's a pastor he's a soldier in the American Revolution he gets hooked up with signer of the Declaration dr. Benjamin Rush so here's an Anglo here's an african-american they're working together it's those two guys that form the first black denomination America AME denomination was founded by a black and a white working together then if you take that relationship move forward a little bit what you find is the period of what's called the yellow fever epidemic the yellow fever epidemic of Philadelphia was 1793 it was terrible no one knew what caused yellow fever back then and so it terrorized everyone because they were losing about a hundred and twenty people a day in the city to yellow fever they were just dying off one tenth of the city died in that period of time there were about 70 doctors in the city they all left the city because they're scared to death they're going to get yellow feet the neuronal causes it dr. Benjamin Rush is one of the very few who stayed in the city he was called the father of American medicine and that two guys that worked with him to treat yellow fever the three of them that worked together to service at whole city you had dr. Benjamin Rush sound of the declaration but he had Richard Allen and you had another black pastor Absalom Jones absent Jones is the first black bishop in the Episcopal Church and those three guys treated so much of Philadelphia so they've got this huge crisis going on and what do you have we have a wife two blacks working side-by-side to treat that epidemic great story of American history great story of Medicine but we just don't hear it although the history of black Americans begins in 1619 with the arrival of the first slaves in America the political history of black Americans actually begins in the year 1787 the year in which the American political system was constructed 1787 was the year the Constitution was written today many critics assert that the Constitution was a pro-slavery document and approved this they point to the three-fifths clause claiming that the Constitution says that blacks are only three-fifths of a person one of the earliest black Americans to investigate this claim was the famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass Douglass had been born into slavery and remained a slave until he escaped to New York three years after his escape he delivered an anti-slavery speech in Massachusetts he was promptly hired to work for the state's anti-slavery society and he also served as a preacher at Zion Methodist Church during Douglass's first years and freedom in the north he studied at the feet of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison who taught him that the Constitution was a pro-slavery document Douglass accepted this claim and his early speeches and writings reflected that belief however Douglass later began to research the issue for himself he read the Constitution he read the writings of those who wrote the Constitution and what he found revolutionized his thinking he concluded that the Constitution was not a pro-slavery document but rather it was an anti-slavery document but if the Constitution is not pro-slavery then what about the three-fifths clause had let's not read that clause yes he had he understood that the three-fifths clause dealt only with representation and not the worth of any person you see the Constitution had established that for every thirty thousand inhabitants in the state that state would receive one representative to Congress the southern states saw this as an opportunity to strengthen slavery slaves accounted for much of the southern population in fact almost half the inhabitants of South Carolina were slaves therefore slave owners could simply count their slaves as regular inhabitants and by so doing could almost double the number of their pro-slavery representatives to Congress of course the anti-slavery leaders from the North strenuously objected to this after all slave owners did not consider their slaves to be persons but only property these slave owners were there for using their property that is their slaves to increase the power of the slave states in Congress the anti-slavery leaders fully wanted free blacks counted but not slaves if counting slaves would increase the power of slave owners they understood that the fewer the pro-slavery representatives to Congress the sooner slavery could be eradicated from the nation several other founders including James Wilson and Elbridge Gerry even used the slaveholders own arguments against them for example Luther Martin proposed if slaves are considered property then what renders this property different from any other type of property that is why should slaves as property be taken into account rather than horses cattle mules or any other type of property these anti-slavery founders argued that if the South was going to count its property that is as slaves in order to get more pro-slavery representation in Congress then the North would count its property that is its houses cows and horses to get more anti-slavery representation in Congress of course the South objected just as strongly that this proposal as the North had objected to counting slaves the final compromise was that only 60% of slaves that is three-fifths of would be counted to calculate the number of southern representatives to Congress in other words it would take 50,000 slaves rather than just 30,000 before slaveholding states could get a representative in Congress thus greatly reducing the number of Representatives to Congress from states with extraordinarily large slave populations this then is the three-fifths clause it had nothing to do with the worth of any individual in fact free blacks in the north and the south often were extended the full rights of a citizen and regularly voted both in the north and the south the three-fifths clause had to do only with representation this is why Frederick Douglass unlike many today who have never taken time to study the Constitution could emphatically declare that the Constitution all of the constitution was anti-slavery many of our greatest revolutionary heroes were Patriots of African descent many courageous and effective black leaders played pivotal roles in our government as early as the late 1800s what is the story and inspiration behind these great Patriots and heroes of the faith and why have so many of their stories remain silent discover our nation's godly history in the american heritage series America this is your heritage why is it that African Americans particularly are left out of American history well I think that the answer to that question of why African Americans are left out of American history fits in a bigger scheme of what happens in education in education there has been in the last 50 years a real movement to just get God out of history books we just leave him out well as you look at elements where God has worked even current polling today and has for a number of years shows that the most Christian community in America is the African American community higher percent of African Americans are Christians than any other group so if you're going to talk about African American heroes by and large you have to talk about some Christians and since we don't talk about Christians and textbooks African Americans who really received the brunt of that it's pretty difficult to find many African American heroes that were not Christians and so what happens now and there's been another tendency in our textbooks tendency in our textbooks is when we show heroes we like to show either victims or angry people we want to show people that were fighting the injustice of the system that wicked government we're going to show people who fought it we're gonna show people who were victimized in some way and there are plenty of those out there but there's tons of inspirational stories that the ash from Jones and the Richard Allen's and this is another great example and this right here is a document original document signed by a judge this is signed in 1814 by a judge named Wentworth Chaz walk along with chess what was a black judge in America in 1814 and by the way who's elected office in 1775 in New Hampshire so here's a judge has been elected to office for 40 years whose black American we never here but african-americans get an elected office we thought all that started with Barbara Jordan Andrew Young back in the 70s no no african-americans elected office back in 1775 like Wentworth Chaz well and interestingly we don't know about this guy but he's the guy who lined up with Paul Revere and when Paul Revere went on his ride went with jazz will went on his ride as well black and white going to warn Americans the British are coming so will we hear part of the story we don't hear about Wentworth Jaisal in 1789 following the ratification of the Constitution Congress expanded its fight to end slavery by passing the Northwest Ordinance that law forbade slavery and any of the federal territories than held and for this reason Ohio Indiana Illinois Iowa Minnesota Michigan and Wisconsin all eventually came into the nation as free states some years later in 1808 Congress continued its fight against slavery by abolishing the slave trade a famous sermon commemorating the abolition of the slave trade was given by the Reverend Absalom Jones the first black Bishop of the Episcopal Church in America his sermon was delivered in the famous st. Thomas's church very few today know that in 1808 Congress abolish the slave trade or that Bishop apslund Jones delivered such a compelling sermon although slavery still had not been abolished in all the states things definitely were moving in the right direction yet a major reversal was about to occur by 1820 most of the founding fathers were dead and Thomas Jefferson's party the Democratic Party had become the majority party in Congress with this new party in charge a change in congressional policy emerged recall that the 1789 law prohibited slavery in a Federal Territory in 1820 the Democratic Congress passed the Missouri Compromise and reversed that earlier policy permitting slavery almost half of the federal territories several states were subsequently admitted as slave states and for the first time since the Declaration of Independence in the Constitution slavery was being officially promoted by congressional policy several other pro-slavery laws were also passed by the Kratts in Congress including the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law that law required northerners to return escaped slaves back into slavery or else pay huge fines in many instances the law became little more than an excuse for southern slave hunters to kidnap free blacks in the north and carry them into slavery in the South because the Fugitive Slave Law allowed free blacks to be carried into slavery this law was disastrous for blacks in the north and as a consequence of the atrocious provisions of this Democratic law some 20,000 blacks in the North completely left the United States and fled to Canada in fact the Underground Railroad reached the height of its activity during this period helping thousands of slaves escape from slavery in the South all the way into Canada simply to escape the reach of the Democrats Fugitive Slave Law in 1854 the Democratic controlled Congress passed another law strengthening slavery the kansas-nebraska Act thus allowing slavery to be introduced into parts of the new territory where it previously had been forbidden thereby increasing the national area in which slavery would be permitted following the passage of these pro-slavery laws in Congress in May of 1854 a number of the anti-slavery Democrats in Congress along with some anti-slavery members from other political parties including the Whigs Free Soilers and emancipation esteemed a new political party to fight slavery and secure equal rights for black Americans the name of that party they called it the Republican Party they called it that because they wanted to return to the principles of freedom and equality first set forth in the governing documents of the Republic before the pro-slavery members of Congress had perverted those original principles let's go to the Battle of Yorktown 1781 at final battle Yorktown and our textbooks they always show the young general French General Marquis de Lafayette has been a real key to whipping the British and that's no question about it he was a real key and standing right beside in the pictures I show in the textbooks as an African American now the African American is james Armistead nobody ever talks about him they just think he's holding the horse for you know he's a black he has to be a slave he said he's holding the horse for Lafayette and that's the reason is there no he's there because those two guys together that brought an end to the American Revolution well how so well james Armistead was a double spy in the American Revolution James a great story james Armistead Virginia he gets General Cornwallis the British general convinced that he's an escaped slave well I'm leaving these terrible Americans I'm an escaped slave please take me in you kind British take me in and so the general takes him in he starts serving the general waiting on him serving his table serving his food and he hears all this stuff that the British are doing because Cornwallis meeting with his generals and he's getting all this information where the generals were about to move him what they do what's he do well he's feeding it back to Lafayette he's feeding all this information Lafayette who takes it to Washington and they're moving the army around to get ready for all the British stuff and then Cornwallis James Armistead's been so faithful to Cornwallis Cornwallis says I have a proposal would you be willing to be a spy for the British against the Americans and missing shoe escaped as a slave from there and so he ends up being a double spy so what he does he's already a spy against the British now the British think he's a spy against the Americans so he's feeding the Americans all the great information he's feeding the British all the wrong information they end up getting Cornwallis trapped out on the peninsula at Yorktown where that they had the French Navy on one side the American army the other no work for the British to go they're trapped how'd that happen james Armistead feeding them bad information it's awesome you know that black Patriot literally you can say that he probably cut years off the American Revolution many of our greatest revolutionary heroes were Patriots of African descent many courageous and effective black leaders played pivotal roles in our government as early as the late 1800s what is the story and inspiration behind these great Patriots and heroes of the faith and why have so many of their stories remained silent discover our nation's godly history in the American heritage series America this is your heritage another famous battle in American history is the Battle of Bunker Hill that's the first real siege type of battle that we had against the British and there's a famous painting in that battle by John Trumbull and John Trumbull is the same man who painted all those huge pictures in rotunda the US Capitol about the American Revolution but in this painting the British are literally killing general Warren on the battlefield they got the bayonets over them they're stabbed at a man and right to the side there's two individuals that are very prominent in the picture that are featured there and and one of them is lieutenant Grosvenor who was one of the leaders in the battle standing right beside him is a black man Peter Salem and nobody ever pays attention they always what's the guy getting getting Sisco bombed by the British with a bayonet over here you get these two guys standing Sambas had black and white standing side by side the black man Peter say don't miss the hero of the Battle of Bunker Hill he saved hundreds of American lives that day he received 14 commendations from different commanders in that battle he received recognition from the Continental Congress received recognition from the state legislature he's a hero the Battle of Bunker Hill I mean as the Americans were winning the battle and they ran out of ammunition ran out of equipment and etc and that was in common in the American Revolution so now the British turn on them and they're coming after the Americans they're slaughtering the Americans and Peter Salem is able to find the British commander and shoot and kill the British commander and just stopped the whole British movement they didn't know what to do allowed all the Americans to get back and regroup and get where they could be saved so he saved hundreds of American lives that day we never hear about Peter Salem at all he's a great hero in the revolution another great man that fought in the revolution another story of faith Lemuel Haynes he's a black pastor he pioneered churches across New England evangelists when he heard about the battle he comes the battle to defend America from the British attack and when finally we whipped the British at Yorktown and kind of call it quits and they throw up the white flag he goes back home goes back to New England back to his churches interesting thing about pastor Lemuel Haynes on George Washington's birthday he would preach a sermon about George Washington his commander-in-chief with whom he'd served side by side the American Revolution we have so many cool stories of black and white serving together fighting together in the revolution and yet what we hear today are the real victim stories which are there no question there but that's only a part of American history so we have another whole part that we rarely deal with but we used to know this this is a great example this is a history book it's called services of colored Americans in the Wars of 1776 and 1812 it's written by an african-american named William Nell and we don't know who he is today he's the first African American appointed to any post and the federal government and we're talking back in the 1830s and 40s and 50s here when was this published gave this particular book is published in 1852 he has this book also this is his bigger book and this book from William ales 1855 and it's called the colored Patriots of the American Revolution now look at the size of that but I think that's a fairly thick book and you look at the lettering on the inset that's a lot of small print this is just about the colored Patriots we didn't know there was that much involved see this is a kind of history we used to know it's kind of history we used to teach we just don't hear it anymore one of the richest parts of American history is a black history and yet today so many of us you know so little about it [Music] in 1856 the Republican Party entered its first presidential election in that election the Republican Party issued this its first party platform it was a short document there were only nine planks in the platform but significantly six of the nine planks set forth bold declarations of equality and civil rights for African Americans based on the principles of the Declaration of Independence the Democratic platform of that year took an opposite position strongly defending slavery in fact it warned all efforts of the abolitionists are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences and all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people amazingly according to Democrats in 1856 attempting to end slavery would ruin the happiness of the people despite such clear differences the Republicans lost that election the next year 1857 a Democrat controlled supreme court delivered this the Dred Scott decision declaring blacks were not persons or citizens but instead were property and therefore had no rights in fact quoting from this infamous decision Democrats on the court announced that blacks had no rights which the white man was bound to respect and the Negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit in the 1860 presidential election Republican Abraham Lincoln ran against Democrat u.s. senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois both parties again issued platforms the Republican platform of 1860 blasted both the Fugitive Slave Law and the Dred Scott decision and it analysis continued intent to end slavery and secure equal civil rights for black Americans on the other hand the Democrats and their 1860 platform praised both the Fugitive Slave Law and the Dred Scott decision in fact Democrats even handed out copies of the Dred Scott decision along with her form to affirm their belief that was proper to have slavery and hold african-americans in bondage it is worth noting there for over a century and a half Democrats often have taken a position that some human life is disposable as they did in the Dred Scott decision in that instance a black individual was not a life it was property and you could do with your property as you wished today Democrats have largely taken that same position on unborn human life that an unborn human is really just disposable property to do with his one wishes african-americans were the victims of this disposable property ideology a century and a half ago and still are today consider although only 12% of the current population is African American almost 35% of all abortions are performed on African Americans in fact over the last decade for every 100 African American live births there were 53 abortions of African American babies Democrats have encouraged this in fact congressional Democrats are almost rapidly pro-abortion and they consistently vote against protections for innocent unborn human life for over a century and a half Democrats have wrongly argued that some human life is merely disposable personal property and black Americans have suffered most under this philosophy if you want to move to a different level of great black history you got to go into the black pastors who had such an impact in the early American era because you do have Richard Allen you do have absalons owns but who's ever heard of folks like Andrew Bryant or John Moran or Harry Hoosier or so many of we don't hear those names today but they had a huge impact matter of fact Harry Hoosier was considered the greatest preacher in the first Great Awakening and the Great Awakening we're here folks like Jonathan Edwards or George Whitfield or what don't hear about Harry Hoosier he's a black preacher Benjamin Rush son of the declarations that he was the greatest preacher of any of them so you have Bishop Asbury bishop Co you have this black preacher in the first Great Awakening that draws a larger crowds than Bishop Asbury bishop coke all the other famous preachers in the first grade away nobody hears his name but if you think about Harry Hoosier you who that's a familiar sounding name oh yeah the Indiana Hoosiers named after Harry Hoosier why we don't know that today we don't hear a thing about that and without the first great awakening there is no independent America I mean Founding Fathers said that John Adams said that Benjamin Franklin said that well who's a great leader and the first Great Awakening Harry Hoosier there are great black preachers great heroes great inspirational heroes we have great military heroes but they tended to be Christians so we hear very little about the wholesome stories we hear very little about the Christian stories but let me tell you one of the richest parts of America's history is what has happened with black Americans in American history [Music]

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Keywords: David Barton, bridgestone multimedia BMG, American Heritage Series TV Show, christian, American Heritage Series TV Series, God, movies, trailers, Jesus, Movie

Id: E4E9mEbLSOQ

Length: 27min 38sec (1658 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 25 2020

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