VLS Celebrates Black Patriots from the American Revolution

During American Revolution, thousands of Black Americans joined the war fighting for both sides of the conflict. Unlike their white counterparts, they weren’t just fighting for independence. Most took up arms hoping to be freed from the shackles of slavery. For some slaves-turned-soldiers, the Revolution’s promise of liberty became a reality. Historians estimate that between 5,000…

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THOMAS JEFFERSON

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia to Jane and Peter Jefferson. His father was a Virginia planter, surveyor, and slave owner. At age fourteen, Jefferson’s father died, and Thomas inherited some thirty enslaved individuals. Jefferson fully embraced the lifestyle of an affluent member of the planter class, and over…

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The Homestead: Keeping Texas Texan

The first generations of Texans understood this perfectly well: Travis’s famous letter from the Alamo addresses itself to “All Americans in the World,” and the Texas Declaration of Independence asserts that the Texans are making revolution “that they should continue to enjoy that constitutional liberty and republican government to which they had been habituated in…

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On This September Day in American History

September 2, 1789 – The third Presidential cabinet department, the U.S. Treasury, was established by Congress September 3, 1783 – The Treaty of Paris was signed by John Adams, Ben Franklin and John Jay, formally ending the American Revolutionary War between Britain and the United States. September 5, 1774 – The First Continental Congress assembled…

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