The Room Where It Happened: SE NC Men of Color in the Revolutionary War & Civil War
Men of color have defined America every step of the way, always in "the room where it happened": Crispus Attucks, an African & Indigenous man who participated in the street protest known as the Boston Tea Party and was killed by British troops; two men of color named Primus Jacobs—one a formerly enslaved man in Massachusetts, one a third-generation member of a free family of color in North Carolina —both of whom fought in the Revolutionary War; and the many men of color, free and enslaved, who fought on both sides of the Civil War as volunteers and as abductees. Men of color conceived, created and corrected America alongside their white countrymen, kinsmen, and enslavers. This presentation will highlight men of color from Southeastern North Carolina in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.
This exciting presentation will be held via video chat on Zoom. (No need to have a Zoom acount!) Register below and we will email you a link and password to access the event.
About the Presenters
Tyrone Goodwyn’s mother was a Jacobs from Burgaw in Pender County NC. Her people arrived in NC in early-mid 1700s. Born & reared in Tidewater VA, living in Washington DC, Tyrone has spent his entire life visiting Pender County several times per year. He is related to the following Free Person of Color families: Jacobs, Merritt, Walker, West, Williams, Manuel, Brewington. His enslaved lines include: Herring and Bordeaux. His European lines are: Collins, Costin, Cowan, Lamb, Walker, Moore. Tyrone has researched southeastern free persons of color for over forty years. He concentrates on Pender/New Hanover, Sampson, Duplin, Wayne & Cumberland counties. This is his fourth presentation in partnership with Pender County Public Library.
Luke Alexander is a genealogist and community historian with a focus on African-American and Indigenous heritage in the Carolinas. He serves as vice-president of the Benjamin & Edith Spaulding Descendants Foundation, Inc. (spauldingfamily.org) engaged in philanthropic activities in his ancestral hometown of Farmers Union, NC. Luke shares direct ancestry from several of the earliest recorded families of African origin in America, along with direct descent from the Lumbee, Waccamaw and Cape Fear Native-American nations. He is a founding administrator of the Carolinas FPOC DNA Project and Cumbo US South DNA Project hosted by FTDNA, as well as coordinator of the Lumbee Indians DNA Project and Cape Fear-Waccamaw Heritage Project hosted by GEDmatch.
Kevin Eugene Graham is a native of Brunswick County, NC. His parents are the late Malon Graham Sr. of East Arcadia, NC, and the late Dora Jane Kelly Graham of Winnabow, NC. Kevin was born in Wilmington, NC. Mr. Graham is a proud descendant of many patriots who fought in the American Revolutionary War. His patriot ancestors were John Blanks Sr., Zachariah Jacobs, and Ishmael Chavis, all of whom were free men of color from Bladen County and New Hanover County, North Carolina. On February 21, 2020, Kevin proudly accepted the position of President of the Lower Cape Fear Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, as the first African American to hold the office. Kevin’s research as a historian and genealogist has focused primarily on free families of color from the counties of Bladen, Columbus, New Hanover, Robeson, Pender, and Sampson prior to the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. His research is available on his family reunion website graham-reunion.com.