edHelper.com
American Revolution

African Americans in the Revolutionary War

African Americans in the Revolutionary War
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   high interest, readability grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   4.78

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    militia, slavery, illegal, colonial, army, navy, plantation, against, free, during, fight, equal, lived, meant, join, northern
     content words:    Revolutionary War, African Americans, George Washington, Bunker Hill, Peter Salem, Salem Poor, African American

Print African Americans in the Revolutionary War
edHelper.com subscriber options:
     Print African Americans in the Revolutionary War  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
     Quickly print reading comprehension
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on African Americans in the Revolutionary War
     Leave your feedback on African Americans in the Revolutionary War  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

African Americans in the Revolutionary War
By Cathy Pearl 		  
1     It was 1776. The Revolutionary War had just started. There were a lot of African Americans living in the colonies. They were not allowed to fight when the war first started. It didn't matter if they were free or if they were slaves.
 
2     Soon, Britain let black men fight. Britain said that they would be free if they helped them in the war. This meant a lot more people were helping the British. George Washington changed his mind. He said that African Americans could fight in his army. Only free black men were allowed to join.
 
3     There were about 5,000 free African Americans that fought against Britain. The first battles were at Lexington and Concord. There were at least nine black men that fought at these battles. Two of the men who fought there also fought at Bunker Hill. They were Peter Salem and Salem Poor.
 
4     There were black men that formed their own groups in the army. The army was also called the militia. Smaller groups of the army were called regiments. African American men served in black regiments. Other men served in white regiments. The black men were also drummers and spies. They fought bravely. The white men in the army respected them.

Paragraphs 5 to 11:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2008 edHelper