Black History Month: Honoring a Little Known Hero

Fifty-five years ago this month, Martin Luther King Jr. came to my home town and addressed a packed auditorium at Michigan State University.

Just days before, he'd been released from jail for leading a march for voting rights in Selma, Alabama.

A couple of months prior to that, he'd accepted the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway.

He was a giant.

I knew that -- sensed it -- even though I was only eight years old at the time of his visit.

I've admired MLK Jr. ever since. I think he was one of the greatest writers in history, who had an uncanny talent of crafting words to drive a thought, a principle, in ways that others related to emotionally. These days, I think sometimes his message is forgotten. Or lost on many who claim to honor the man whose message they seem to ignore.

But I want to honor another hero this month. He was a black man who had a place in history too, though he never rose to the level of fame that MLK Jr. did. Odds are you've never heard of him, but I'd like to tell you a little about him.

That man's name was James Harris and according to records, he was born in Dinwiddie County VA on January 14, 1748. In the spring of 1776, he was 28 years old and living in Orange County NC when he began serving in the Revolutionary War.

During the war, he participated in the earthworks construction in Charleston SC, Augusta GA, and marched south to St. Augustine FL (then a province of Spain) in a failed attempt to prevent the British from landing there.

Remarkably, he apparently did all of this without being armed. Black soldiers were seldom issued firearms due to fear of an "uprising."

According to his family, James Harris was present at Gate's Defeat near Camden SC on August 16, 1780 when he was 32. This battle was considered the worst defeat of the patriot military during the Revolutionary War, due to inadequate provisions and improperly trained militia under the command of General Horatio Gates.

James Harris survived that bloody battle.

During the war, Mr. Harris also served under General DeKalb (killed in Gate's Defeat) and the French general, Lafayette.

After the war was won, and our country gained its independence, James Harris reportedly received a reward for his service in the form of bounty land  Sometime after 1794, he had his 65 acres surveyed. The land was located on the North Mayo River of Virginia. In 1827, at the age of 79, he paid for an additional 31 acres along the river with 1,000 pounds of tobacco.

On February 12, 1835, at the age of 87 years, he filed for a pension as a Revolutionary War Veteran.

On February 13, 1836, his claim was challenged in a letter from a man named James M. Redd who questioned his status because he was "as black as half the Negroes of the county." Mr. Redd apparently justified that his motivation to challenge the award of Mr. Harris's pension was for no other reason than to prevent fraud. The official reply to Mr. Redd from members of Congress was that free Negroes had served honorably in the Revolutionary War, and the pension act made no distinction based on skin color.

There isn't a lot recorded about James Harris after that date. In the 1840 census of military pensioners, he was recorded as living in the household of William Cassell of Patrick County, VA.

He died in 1844 at the age of 96 years, and his widow was listed as Keziah (Miner) Harris. In 1856, she applied for a pension as the widow of a Revolutionary War Veteran stating she was 87 years of age and had recently moved to Fayette County OH to live with relatives due to failing health. The pension was apparently granted.

Though James Harris has been pretty much forgotten by history, he and his story are important to my family. Why? Because James Harris had a daughter named Tabitha, who had a son named John, who had a daughter named Elizabeth, who had a daughter named Mary, who had a daughter named Cora, who had a daughter named Ethel, who had a son named Richard, who had a son named David. James Harris is my husband's ancestor--his great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather.

This man's story is just one of many in our country's history--black men who were there serving our nation before it was a nation. So this year for Black History Month, I'm celebrating the legacy of James Harris of Dinwiddie County VA, in hopes his story won't be forgotten.

Have a great week.