America was multi everything From the START!
By Tonya Hopkins aka The Food Griot….
July 4th, 1776 is considered the birthdate of this (then-new) nation — and for good reason. Once the Declaration of Independence was signed, there was no turning back…
Just one month later in August of 1776, the Battle of Brooklyn broke out (also known as the Battle of Long Island) — it was the first major battle of the Revolutionary War. The story goes it started in a watermelon patch! [more on that juicy scoop in the Patreon version of this post] And it all took place right here in NYC — in BROOKLYN no less — in MY NEIGHBORHOOD (now Park Slope) near and ON the very street where I live!!— directly across from the Old Stone House of Brooklyn a key location which was the heart of that battlefield of a freedom seeking fight against the Red Coat British — and it stretched some miles down to what’s now Greenwood Cemetery . …
Spoiler alert: although the Revolutionary War was ultimately won (by the seemingly fledgling American Patriots in October of 1781, with the British surrender at Yorktown, VA) … that first battle here in Brooklyn was LOST.
But not without courage. A group of incredibly brave soldiers from Maryland, later dubbed the Maryland 400 (memorialized by a plaque near 3rd Ave & 7th St.) are credited with holding the line long enough for George Washington’s troops to make a strategic retreat across the East River — essentially saving the Continental Army from total destruction. Their fierce stand near the Gowanus marshland (where Wholefoods is!) is now recognized as a defining act of heroism during a dark hour in the Revolution. Many of them paid with their lives. Ultimately a successful survival strategy prevailed and it all went down firs here in what’s now my neighborhood of Park Slope and Gowanus.
As a result of that loss, New York City was under British occupation for seven years — a long, intense period marked by complex loyalties, shaped by complicated political, financial, and familial ties in a relatively tight geographic space wrought with lots of paranoia and espionage….
It’s also important to note how multicultural, multiethnic, multiracial — and yes, multi-gendered this fledgling nation was then (and now!)— straight out the gate. Thousands of Black, Brown , Indigenous, immigrant and all kindsa Colored people — oh and WOMEN — AND non-binary freedom fighters helped secure this nation’s ultimate independence. But when we picture Revolutionary soldiers, we’ve been conditioned to only see the white guys — who for sure were there holdin it down too — but it wasn’t just them alone.
📽️ WATCH my 6-ish min vid where I break it all down — July 4th, July 5th too which by the late 19th Century came to by known as Black Independence Day — and of course lots of food and drink history to connect it all together 🍗🍹🍖
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