Earlier I was listening to NPR on my cool MP3 player and the author of An Imperfect God : George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America was on, talking about the book. There were a couple of interesting tidbits, such as the fact that Martha owned a slave who was her half-sister, but what I really found interesting was talk about the degree to which the military during the revolution was both multi-racial and integrated. This itself wasn't news to me, although the fact that there were units such as the 1st Rhode Island Regiment that were integrated in a surprising way - 75% black/25% white - was. But, it got me thinking about revolutionary war art - the portrayals on canvas of various events and battles, such as Yorktown where the 1st RI played a prominent role. I couldn't remember seeing a single black face. I went hunting around the internet, and couldn't find a single one.
I'm sure Jonah Goldberg can tell me why it's racist for me to even bring this up.
....Update, David in NYC provides an exception.
