Standing in Their Own Light: African American Patriots in the American Revolution

Join the Museum for this free teacher workshop as we welcome historian and author Judith Van Buskirk while she guides an exploration of the complicated decisions and experiences of Revolutionary soldiers of color. Participating educators will investigate primary sources and lesser-known stories that help them expand and contextualize their knowledge about people of African descent who took up arms during the Revolutionary War. Bring your questions, and leave with new ideas for incorporating these stories into your classroom.

Judith Van Buskirk taught early American history at SUNY Cortland for 22 years. She earned a Ph.D. from New York University and wrote two books and assorted articles on the American Revolution. The first book, Generous Enemies: Patriots and Loyalists in Revolutionary New York, examines the British occupation of New York from 1776 to 1783 and the permeable boundaries between the two sides that permitted much outlawed movement to occur across the military lines. The second book published in 2017, Standing in Their Own Light: African American Patriots in the American Revolution, traces the lives of African American soldiers from their beginnings in the colonial period, through the war years and into the Early Republic. Van Buskirk continues to volunteer at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the National Park Service as well as to give talks and publish articles on early American history.