What would you fight for if you were free but still not equal?
In 1777, brothers William and Benjamin Frank answered that question by enlisting in the Continental Army. Freeborn Black men in Rhode Island, they gambled that military service would earn them what freedom alone had not—equality, land, and a better future. But the Revolution had other plans, and by war’s end, the Frank Brothers had made very different choices.
Historian Shirley L. Green, author of Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers, Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence, joins us to uncover the lived experiences of William and Benjamin Frank and what their story reveals about freeborn Black service during the American Revolution.
About the Show
Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.
It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Episode Summary
Shirley L. Green is an Adjunct Professor of History at the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University, and the Director of the Toledo Police Museum in Toledo, Ohio. She received her Ph.D. in history from Bowling Green State University following a twenty-six-year career in law enforcement. She is the author of Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers, Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence, a book that grew out of her own family’s oral history.
In this episode, Shirley reveals:
- How restrictive Black Codes shaped the lives of freeborn Black families in Revolutionary Rhode Island, and why the Frank Brothers still saw military service as their best path to equality
- How William and Benjamin Frank fought at the Battles of Red Bank, Monmouth, and Rhode Island, only to see their integrated regiment segregated after Rhode Island’s Slave Enlistment Act of 1778
- The dramatic story of how the Revolution divided the Frank Brothers: one serving through Yorktown, the other crossing to the British side and resettling in Nova Scotia as a Black Loyalist
What You’ll Discover
- How Shirley discovered the Frank Brothers in the historical record
- The genealogical and historical methods she used in Revolutionary Blacks
- Life for free Black families in Revolutionary-era Rhode Island
- Rhode Island’s Black Codes and their limits on Black freedom
- The history of Black military service in colonial militias and wars
- Why the Frank Brothers may have joined the Continental Army in 1777
- The risks Black men took when enlisting in the Continental Army
- George Washington’s early views on Black soldiers
- The day-to-day experiences of Black and Indigenous soldiers in the Continental Army
- Ben Frank’s desertion and what he did afterward
- African American migration to Nova Scotia and the Black Loyalist movement
- The Book of Negroes and how it documents Black Loyalist migration
- Whether the Frank Brothers’ gamble on military service ultimately paid off
- What recovering the experiences of Black soldiers adds to our understanding of the Revolution
Links to People, Places, and Publications
1776 in Context
What do you think we can gain from researching and learning about the everyday experiences of Black soldiers and their families during the American Revolution? In what ways do you think the experiences of these soldiers and families add to our knowledge and understanding of the Revolution?
Complementary Episodes
🎧 Episode 118: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island
🎧 Episode 301: From Inoculation to Vaccination, Part 1
🎧 Episode 333: Experiences of the Revolution, Part 2: Disruptions in Yorktown
🎧 Episode 348: Valley Forge
🎧 Episode 413: Dr. Joseph Warren & the Battle of Bunker Hill
🎧 Episode 424: Dunmore’s Proclamation & the American Revolution in Virginia
🎧 Episode 427: How States Are Planning the 250th of the American Revolution
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