From The Revolutionary War to the Civil War, These Black Americans Changed America For The Better

The month of February is a yearly reminder to celebrate all of the African Americans who have changed America for the better. Without these people, the world wouldn’t be the same.

“Our country isn’t what it is today without their contributions,” says AP history teacher Mr. Gaub. “They are a major part of history. Of all Americans in our society, I believe they should be remembered, they should be honored, and they should appear much more than they do in our curriculum.”

To that end, we’ve included three important black historical figures below.

Crispus Attucks

“He is one of the most important figures in African-American history, not for what he did for his own race but for what he did for all oppressed people everywhere. He is a reminder that the African-American heritage is not only African but American and it is a heritage that begins with the beginning of America.”

Crispus Attucks was the first American casualty of the American Revolutionary War. He was killed during the Bostom Massacre. Over the next hundred years, Attucks became an icon of the anti-slavery movement. There’s still an organization that honors him today, over two hundred years after his death on March 5th, 1770.

Harriet Tubman

“I would fight for my liberty so long as my strength lasted, and if the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me.”

Harriet Tubman was an American abolitionist and political activist. Born as a slave, Tubman escaped and made thirteen missions to rescue enslaved families and friends. She used the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She was born in Dorchester County, Maryland and died March 10, 1913.

Frederick Douglass

“I didn’t know I was a slave until I found out I couldn’t do the things I wanted.”

Frederick Douglass was an abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York. Douglass became one of the most famous thinkers and speakers of his time. He was born in Cordova, Maryland, sometime around 1818 and died February 20, 1895.