Declarations: Black American and The Revolutionary War
Video Courtesy of Virginia Public Media
The film "Declarations: Black Americans and The Revolutionary War" explores the founding tenets as declared by the framers —"all men are created equal...endowed with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Yet, with the burgeoning of a new nation in 1776, these truths rang hallow for many of the enslaved and freed Black people helping to build the United States of America. Despite all odds and armed with the promises of the framers, this film explores the stories of four forgotten forefathers and foremothers who created their own version of the "Black American Dream”.
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This feature-length film is directed by Stacey L. Holman of Black Butterfly Productions and produced by Maya Tepler in association with VPM Media Corporation — premiering on PBS in June 2026. It uncovers the stories of four Black Americans in pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness during the American Revolution.
Elizabeth "Mumbet" Freeman successfully sued for her manumission in 1781 based on the Massachusetts Declaration of Independence. James Armisted De Lafayette, who secured his freedom after military service in 1787, served as a double agent during the Revolutionary War and his intelligence was critical in clinching victory for the Patriots. Harry Washington was enslaved by George Washington and after being defeated as a Black Loyalist with the British Army, migrated as a freedman to a settlement in Sierra Leone in 1792. Abraham Peyton Skipwith, who secured his manumission in 1785 with testimony by a signer of the Declaration of Independence, became the first known Black homeowner in Jackson Ward as the nation's first historically registered neighborhood in 1793, as well as one of the first known Black Virginians with a fully executed will in 1799.
