By 1774, colonial Americans had spent decades governing themselves. They were ingrained with a spirt of independence that strengthened with each new generation. Local legislatures were chosen by regional landowners. Provincial assemblies made laws, oversaw magistrates to enact laws, ruled over disputes, levied penalties, and saw to the daily needs of their communities. They organized …
The seeds of self-governance began in America with the first splash of the Mayflower’s anchor in 1620, nearly seventy years before the idea of self-rule was encouraged in England. Great Britain’s Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the 1689 Bill of Rights established that the British Parliament, and not the king, had the ultimate authority in …
There are so many important texts available on African American Studies and understanding what it means to be black in America. From slavery to civil rights, millions of Americans have been embroiled in a long and difficult fight for freedom, equality, identity, and social justice. A struggle that to this day, permeates throughout a nation …
By Harry Schenawolf, author of the Shades of Liberty Series about African American soldiers in the American Revolution. Veterinary medicine owes much to mankind’s infatuation with the horse that helped finance and advance its development from amateur status to scientific discovery. It also benefited from strides in human medicine, in sorts, becoming a sister that …
By Harry Schenawolf, author of the Shades of Liberty Series about African American soldiers in the American Revolution. June 27, 2015, a plaque marking the site of New York City’s 18th century Slave Auction House was unveiled in Lower Manhattan by Mayor Bill de Blasio. The plaque commemorates the location of where thousands of lives …
By Harry Schenawolf, author of the Shades of Liberty Series about African American soldiers in the American Revolution. Rivers that were too wide to construct a bridge (or too expensive), yet needed to be crossed to populate the new world’s wilderness and countryside provided the earliest setters with commercial potential. As these rural and soon …
By Harry Schenawolf, author of the Shades of Liberty Series about African American soldiers in the American Revolution. “A thick cloud of darkness and gloom covered the land and despair was seen in almost every countenance…” an officer in the Continental Army, December, 1776. Another wrote, “…strong apprehensions are entertained that the British will soon …
By Harry Schenawolf, author of the Shades of Liberty Series about African American soldiers in the American Revolution. Like the horse, honey bees were once native to North America. And like the horse, the species died out, only to be reintroduced by Europeans thousands of years later, millions in the case of honey bees. The …
By Harry Schenawolf, author of the Shades of Liberty Series about African American soldiers in the American Revolution. Once Fort Washington fell on November 16, 1776, Washington’s army was still divided into three sections. General Charles Lee, second in command, remained at North Castle, New York, Westchester County, where the main army had withdrawn nine …
By Harry Schenawolf, author of the Shades of Liberty Series about African American soldiers in the American Revolution. Margaret Cochran Corbin (November 12, 1751 – January 16, 1800), nicknamed ‘Captain Molly’ by the troops in her husband’s company, like her counterpart Mary Ludwig Hays, aka ‘Molly Pitcher’, was an incredibly brave person who had history …