This Day in History: 1775-04-19

African American minutemen assemble and fight in an integrated colonial militia (first integrated army in American history) on the front lines at Lexington and Concord (the opening skirmish of the Revolutionary War) to defend Boston against a threatened attack by His Majesty’s regiments. Although the Continental Army tried to exclude African Americans at one time during the conflict, and some states raised all-Black units, free African Americans and slave militiamen served alongside of white militiamen in many battles from Bunker Hill to Yorktown. Learn more.