E Pluribus Unum - Remembering Those Who Served

This month we celebrate Black History Month. First conceived of by historian Carter G. Woodson, this effort to expand the teaching of Black History began in 1926 and was federally recognized in 1976 by President Ford during the U.S. Bicentennial. We’re sharing Black History stories and resources over on our Facebook and Twitter accounts and the DAR Museum will be hosting themed programming that we encourage you to explore.

Subscribers to American Spirit magazine have been be treated to a special feature in the January/February 2022 issue that celebrates Black History Month with several articles, including a feature on Patriot Wentworth Cheswell, who broke barriers by becoming one of the first biracial men elected to public office in the United States. This issue also details the recent discovery on the grounds of Colonial Williamsburg of the foundations of an African-American church dating to the early 1800s; a beautiful piece of furniture in the DAR Museum’s collection that was built by Thomas Day, a free man of color and noted cabinet maker from Milton, N.C.; and several African-American preachers in early America and their outspoken messages of faith and freedom.

American Spirit has been proudly featuring the stories of Black Patriots and their experiences since at least 2003, and we encourage you to explore our digital magazine archive at www.dar.org/magazinearchive, particularly the January/February 2003 and January/February 2013 issues, to learn more. If you are interested in subscribing to American Spirit, please click here!

The initiative got off to a strong start in 2021 with the launching of the Patriots of Color database on our Genealogical Research System (GRS) website. This searchable database takes the names and citations from the original “Forgotten Patriots” publications and makes it easy to search by name or by location quickly without needing to hunt through pages of indexes.

Last summer the EPU initiative also launched a new online exhibit, “Remembrance of Noble Actions: African Americans and Native Americans in the Revolutionary War” dedicated to telling the stories of Native Americans, African Americans, and other individuals who are often overlooked in the histories of the American Revolution.

In the fall of 2021, the DAR hired Dr. Jonathan Hanna as a research specialist to support the E Pluribus Unum Educational Initiative. Dr. Hanna completed his PhD at Claremont Graduate University and has studied and written about both colonial New England and early American Federalists in the south. He is currently evaluating census data and other research to identify names of individuals who are likely veterans or served the colonies during the Revolution who are not already listed in the Patriots of Color database.  Once the initial round of names that can be verified has been added, Dr. Hanna will be pursuing more in-depth research on some of the individuals who need more study, including tracing clusters of veterans of color and the communities they formed in the years following the Revolution.

We are thrilled by your support and interest in the initiative and look forward to making more resources and information about the figures we hope to bring out of the historical shadows available to you and your communities soon!