Trigger
Just watched a great PBS American Experience on Marquis de Lafayette. However, PBS expired this video from its website. It’s a shame! They do this all the time with great videos.
The French Lafayette
American Experience tells a story of a great love affair between Lafayette and his wife. That Lafayette was an abolitionist and other things.
The Black Lafayette
The other Lafayette is James Armistead Lafayette. A Virginian slave who became an important spy for the French Lafayette and George Washington in the Revolutionary War. He later added the name of Lafayette in honor of the French Lafayette.
American Experience tells the story of both Lafayettes as much as their paths have crossed. French Lafayette helped black Lafayette to become a free man. They later meet again on French Lafayette’s last voyage to the U.S.
From Wikipedia we also learn that the black Lafayette as a free man became a farmer who “owned three slaves”. American Experience did not mention it. If this is true, then this is quite remarkable. How many other free black Americans were slave owners?
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