PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Patriots of color are getting their time to shine as once forgotten documents re-emerge in the public eye, in a special way.
Nearly 200 rare documents bearing names of Black and Indigenous soldiers who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution will soon be on display for all to see, for free, thanks to a partnership between Ancestry.com and the Museum of the American Revolution.
“I think the fact that now through Ancestry we’ll be able to have these so widely available is fantastic,” said Aimee Newell, the museum’s director of collections and exhibitions.
She says these documents — which will allow so many people of color to connect with a piece of their heritage they never knew about — will also give insight into army life at the time.
“There are handwritten receipts about men receiving a blanket from the selectmen of their town, a lot of pay vouchers, all kinds of really interesting tidbits,” she said.
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“At least 5,000 men of color fought in the Continental Army, but their stories aren’t as known as they should be,” said Dr. R. Scott Stephenson, the museum’s president and CEO.
“Many of these men … did not leave a lot of documents behind,” added Newell, “so to have this many and be able to link to possibly their service records, national archives, to local records, to learn more about them is really exciting.”
Newell says they currently have five of these original documents on display in their museum for the public to see.
“Ancestry will be making them accessible through their website, for everybody to look at and be able to learn more about these soldiers and more about the American Revolution,” she explained.
“We are also going to be looking for other ways to share these stories throughout the coming years too, so this is not the only way in which we’ll be sharing them.”