Pacific Northwest Historical Society

The American Revolution wasn’t shaped by a few famous names alone.
Beyond the familiar names and achievements of the Founding Fathers lies a
deeper, more complicated story.

Our signature program, Voices of Valor, brings to life the voices of those often left out—women, Black Americans, and Indigenous leaders—revealing a Revolution that was not one story, but made up of many rich human complexities. Through storytelling, discover a richer and more human history—one where liberty meant different things to different people. Voices of Valor is at the heart of the Pacific Northwest Historical Society, because history connects us to each other.

If you are interested in seeing Voices of Valor, check out our Events page.

Below are books that I used as references or provide more context for these topics.

Core Events & Foundational Context

  • History of the Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770 (J. Munsell, 1870)
  • King Philip’s War: The History and Legacy of America’s Forgotten Conflict — Eric B. Schultz & Michael J. Tougias (2017)
  • Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War — Lisa Brooks (2019)

Black Voices & Experiences

  • Benjamin Banneker: Surveyor, Astronomer, Publisher, Patriot — Charles Cerami (2002)
  • Memoir of Benjamin Banneker — John H. B. Latrobe (1845)
  • The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley — David Waldstreicher (2024)
  • Phillis Wheatley Peters: Biography of a Genius in Bondage — Vincent Carretta (2023)
  • Memoir & Poems of Phillis Wheatley — Phillis Wheatley
  • Black Patriots and Loyalists — Alan Gilbert (2013)
  • Black Americans in the Revolutionary Era — Woody Holton (2009)
  • Out of the Shadows — A.J. Williams-Myers (2007)

Black Soldiers & Military History

  • They Fought Bravely, but Were Unfortunate — D. Popek (2015)
  • Don Troiani’s Black Soldiers in America’s Wars: 1754–1865 — Don Troiani et al. (2025)

Women in the Revolutionary Era

  • A Revolutionary Woman: Elizabeth Freeman and the Abolition of Slavery in the North — D. Tesiero (2024)
  • Mum Bett: A Slave Who Won Her Own Freedom — Charles Cerami (2022)
  • Never Caught — Erica Armstrong Dunbar (2018)
  • Women in George Washington’s World — Cynthia A. Kierner Lewis & George Boudreau (2022)
  • A Portrait of Elizabeth Willing Powel — D. Maxey (2006)
  • The Letterbook of Eliza Lucas Pinckney — Eliza Lucas Pinckney (1997)
  • Eliza Lucas Pinckney: An Independent Woman in the Age of Revolution — L. Glover (2020)

Native American Leaders & Perspectives

  • Joseph Brant: Man of Two Worlds — Isabel Kelsay (1984)
  • Joseph Brant and His World — James Paxton (2008)
  • Six Nations Diplomat: Molly Brant and the American Revolution — D. Tesiero (2025)
  • Tekonwatonti: Molly Brant — Maurice Kenny (1995)
  • Samson Occom: Radical Hospitality in the Native Northeast — R. Carr (2023)
  • The Collected Writings of Samson Occom — Samson Occom & Joanna Brooks (2006)

Founders, Slavery & Contradictions

  • “The Only Unavoidable Subject of Regret” — M. Thompson (2019)
  • Washington at the Plow — Bruce Ragsdale (2021)