This Veterans Day, Wypipologist Michael Harriot celebrates those who served and fought for Black freedom. Veterans like Harriet Tubman, Lord Dunmore’s Regiment, Moses Dixon, Colonel Tye, Robert Smalls, Marylou Vester, and Cathay Williams contributed to the fight for Black freedom, even if they were left off military rolls.
Full Transcript:
Michael Harriot: You are now listening to theGrio’s Black Podcast Network, Black Culture Amplified.
It’s Veterans Day. And when we think of veterans, we like to think of soldiers in the U.S. military who fought for freedom and justice. And that’s why I want to welcome you to theGrio Daily, the only podcast that will tell you about the other Black veterans.
And when we talk about veterans and Veterans Day. We usually imagine someone who enlisted or was drafted in many cases in the U. S. military. Uh, and it’s important to know that throughout the history of this country, Black people disproportionately fought and served in the U. S. military. Today, we’re going to talk about some of those veterans, but not the veterans that you think about, right?
Not people who actually were on the army rolls and were officers in the Marine Corps or on ships in the Navy. We want to talk about some of the forgotten Black veterans, some of the people who fought for Black freedom and were serving in roles as part of a fighting force, but not necessarily for the US government in some cases, they were some cases they weren’t. For instance, you know the famous, and the most well-known case is Harriet Tubman or Minta Ross, right? We love to talk about the Underground Railroad, but we forget that Harriet Tubman served as a spy and a scout in the war for white supremacy, y’all call it the Civil War, um, but when the U. S. engaged in the Civil War. Remember, it started in the South, in South Carolina, Harriet Tubman was there. And not only was she there serving as a nurse, but she didn’t receive any pay because Abraham Lincoln was adamant about not allowing what he called Negroes in the U. S. Armed Forces. So, she basically sold pies.
Y’all didn’t know Harriet Tubman could bake right? Harriet Tubman sold pies so she could serve to set people free and we when we talk about that fictional quote and it’s not real that, you know, “She freed a thousand slaves she would have she could have freed a thousand more if only they had known she was slaves,” Harriet Tubman didn’t do that, the records indicate that she freed about 70 people on the underground railroad. But when she served as a scout and a spy in the Civil War, she led what was called the Combahee River Raid, which was a raid on a riverboat of plantations that freed over 700 enslaved people. And so. Harriet Tubman will never appear on a list of U. S. veterans, but she served for the U. S. military. And, there’s a lot of people like that. For instance, uh, you know, Lord Dunmore’s Regiment, right? So… After the U. S. and Britain started beefing in the conflict that we call the American Revolution, British royal, Lord Dunmore, tried to get the upper hand by declaring that if you come and fight for the British forces and you are enslaved, you will immediately be set free.
And a lot of enslaved people did this and they were part of what some people call the Ethiopian Regiment. Lord Dunmore’s Regiment. And there wore sashes that said, “Liberty to Slaves”, and they fought throughout the American Revolution. Uh, as a matter of fact, one of the most famous ones, a man named Colonel Tye, was basically like the Rambo of the American Revolution. Um, Colonel Tye was a bad MF, right? But he didn’t fight for the American side. And what’s important to know is that about 5,000 enslaved people or Black people fought for the American side of the American Revolution, and about 20000 fought for the British side because the British promised them freedom.
And they are Americans. And they were veterans of a war, even though they were fighting for Black people’s freedom. They were fighting for liberty to slaves, and the same was true during the Civil War, right? Black people fought in the Civil War even before they were allowed to fight by Abraham Lincoln, right?
They assisted in many ways and fought. And those people are veterans. They fought in an American conflict. And they succeeded, but you won’t find them on any military roles. One of my favorite stories is about Moses Dixon. So Moses Dixon, before the Civil War, he started a group called the “The Knights of 12.”
So he got 12 men from all throughout the South, and they secretly made a pledge. That they will not stop until all the slaves were free. And they organized what was going to be a National Slave Revolt. And we wrote about this in theGrio. Um, you can go and read it, The Secret History of the National Slave Revolt.
And Moses Dixon and the Knights of… 12, who became the “Knights of Tabor,” uh, eventually ditched their plan only because the Civil War had already started. So they didn’t, they weren’t needed. But many of those people eventually joined Union forces and fought to free the enslaved people. And the “Knights of 12” or the Knights of Tabor eventually became a fraternal organization and created the first Black-owned and operated Hospital, the Mound Bayou Hospital in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, or what is called the Taborian Hospital.
And many of the civil rights workers that you knew from Jesse Jackson to this, uh, little-known singer’s father. Her name was Aretha Franklin. They all, you know, lived at, for a time and were trained in Mound Bayou, Mississippi and many of them were born in the Taborian Hospital. These kinds of heroes and veterans often aren’t mentioned among the people who got gold stars or medals, but they are Black veterans. They fought for freedom and liberty and all that stuff that they say America is about. And today we honor those people who are some more of those people? Um, well, you know, another one of my. One of my favorite stories is about Cathy or Cathay Williams, right? Cathay Williams dressed up as a man and fought in the Civil War, and no one knew her gender until after the Civil War.
And you can read stories about her, Robert Smalls, who stole… a riverboat at the beginning of the Civil War and steered it out of Confederate territory in Charleston, South Carolina, and gave it to the Union Army. There’s so many names of veterans who you’ll never read about on the army roll. Here’s a good one.
Marylou Vester, or Mary Touvester, depending on where you read about her, was a woman who was enslaved in Virginia and she was, you know, working as a seamstress. And she heard about union officers planning to clad a ship in iron. And not only was Mary a seamstress, but she was a really good artist. So she snuck into the Confederate officers’ quarters and drew the plans for this ironclad ship and then walked and delivered it to the Union naval commander and they asked her, you know, you know, “what would you like?” And she was like, “Well, just give me an escort back home.” And so Marylou Vester or to Vester, she actually ushered in the era of modern warfare of ironclad ships that changed naval warfare forever. The first battle between two ironclad ships, you know, you’ve probably heard.
A social studies teacher talked about the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimack. Well, the Monitor was built after Mary Touvester delivered those plans to the Union Army. So she is a big part of the evolution of naval warfare. And she’s not considered a veteran, although in the CIA Hall of Heroes, her name is listed.
And these Black veterans are often forgotten about, but not here, not at theGrio. And that’s why you got to download that Grio app. That’s why you got to tell your friends about this podcast. That’s why you got to listen. And that’s why we always leave you. With a Black saying and today’s Black saying is war, huh, what is it good for?
Absolutely nothing say it again
We’ll see you next time on theGrio Daily
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Announcer: You are now listening to theGrio’s Black Podcast Network, Black Culture Amplified.
