As the U.S. celebrates its 250th birthday this week, we're reflecting on the status of Black people at the time of the country's founding. We're also exploring what immigration looked like in 1776. At that time, the largest driver of immigration in this country was forced migration — slavery.
To learn more WUWM's Jimmy Gutierrez spoke with Dr. Robert "Biko" Baker, a UW-Milwaukee lecturer and the director of undergraduate studies in the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Jimmy Gutierrez: The really nice thing about interviewing a professor is that you're sitting on all this incredible knowledge. And you gave me some homework before we had this conversation, so let's get into complicating the narrative on this 250th birthday.
One of those early touchstone moments for the U.S. is the Boston Massacre, when British soldiers opened fire on a rowdy crowd of American colonists, killing five. And while many of us have heard about the Boston Massacre, we may not have heard of Crispus Attucks. Who is Crispus, and what role did he play in all this?
Dr. Robert "Biko" Baker: Crispus Attucks is considered by many historians to be the first, or possibly the second person killed at the start of the Revolutionary War, as the revolutionary fervor is kicking up. I always tell it to my students like, “He's like this mixed guy. He sees these groups of white people fighting. He walks out, chaos erupts, and he's shot.” And his story is so important because his death becomes the rallying cry for the Patriots. They really look to his story as a way to embolden people. But the British, they say he was just a B-side character who was antagonizing the Redcoats. But he was a Black man, a biracial person, definitely a runaway slave, who becomes the hero, the mascot at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. And it's sort of lost to history.
There's another piece of homework that you gave – Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation, which gets into the contrasts of all of this. We know this country loves a freedom story, but we might be surprised to learn more about Lord Dunmore's proclamation. So, what did the proclamation say, and why don't we hear more about it?
It's November 1775. It's clear that the British need to pull a Hail Mary, or a rabbit out of the hat. And they put forth this proclamation that they thought would create a slave rebellion, saying that all enslaved people in the colony of Virginia would be free if they came and fought. And the reality of it is: large numbers of people did not show up to fight. Black folks are still isolated on plantations. They're still trying to figure out how to get free, but up to 20,000 slaves ended up in British service. Far more than those that fought for the Patriots. Part of that is because George Washington was initially afraid of putting arms in the hands of Black folks. But those that thought they were going to get free, it didn’t turn out that way. There's this story of Dunmore getting on the boat and leaving – and Black people going back to slavery.
The stories we tell ourselves about the U.S. are littered in contrasts — what liberty actually looks like, the idea of freedom and slavery existing side by side. I'm thinking about migration as both resistance and freedom. And I’m thinking about how, 250 years ago, the main immigration that was happening was forced migration — slavery. I’m thinking about how the true story of this country is being hidden in plain sight. Doing the work that you do, having the knowledge that you have, interacting with students all the time, how do you wrestle with this history?
You know, it's difficult. I've been on this path of becoming a historian — and you’re always sort of becoming a historian — since I was 21. And so the stuff that you're saying that's hidden is not really hidden to me. I see it. And I think, for our students and all of us, we have to not be afraid to study the past. I hate that history has been sort of put in this box that's away from people, in stacks that people want to approach. I hate that it's like that. And so, I ask us to really spend time thinking about how our own history fits into this moment, and I think that's a good place to start.
It's not hidden, because it’s right here. We have more technology and opportunities to go back, whether it's our own personal stories or the stories of our cities or the stories of our nations. But if we are afraid to look at that, we will crash. America is not promised. That's the other thing, looking at America in 250: it's not promised. Empire is not promised. And we can run away from the fact that we're empire, but it's clear. When you look at it, that's what we are. And so, all I know is that I love my ancestors. I appreciate their offerings. And it's my turn and your turn and everyone else's turn to keep going forward.
