class awareness of being a kid who you know wasn't like the other kids in yorktown heights. and yet, you know, she's likeable. she's a good student. she belongs to clubs. she's not you know, she's not putting a stake in the ground. she's a kid. goes to girl scouts goes to church and so but but you can see from the from the people that we talked to the way that that class consciousness kind of sat with her right like it's sort of it sort of ingrained itself into her into her. who she was and she became sort of good at? code switching at being what people expected her to be when they expanding what that was. she's an incredible communicator. we see that now, but she was an incredible communicator then and people noted that about her but she was able to communicate two people what they in the language that they needed to hear and that is one of her most i don't know notable gifts, right she speaks twitter to the people who speak twitter and she speaks instagram to the people who speak instagram and she speaks congressional testimony to the people who speak congressional testimo

through it by after yorktown. the regiment was set up to lancaster pennsylvania. not too far from here if you will and they were on guard duty with the prisoners of war there where i would like to point out that hazen again was pressing for an invasion of canada. through into 1782, you know, let's do it. and of course you're everybody's waiting for the diplomats to get everything done to get the peace treaty. let's end this and there is hazen going. come on. we have one last chance. let's go for canada again, and i love it. washington writes them back going interesting. send me your plans. you know, and i think this is great as as a senior officer. he's going write it out for me about how this would actually work and the trouble is it only kept haze and occupied for a few weeks. and then he already had sent the plan back but at that point washington at other things for them to do they were brought back up. york spent most of the rest of the war up at pompton waiting for the furlough most of the troop was furloughed in july by june july 1783 one small contingent of

he was seeing there, at yorktown the regimen did distinguish itself. in particular it's light infantry company, which had been attached to lafayette's light infantry corps through the summer of 1781, and the light infantry company of hastens regiment was part of the assault party under hamilton, which beat the french who are trying to take read out number nine at the exact same time. after yorktown the regiment was sent up to lancaster, pennsylvania, not too far from here and, they were on guard duty with the prisoners of war there, where i would like to point out that haze and, again, was pressing for and get invasion of canada. through into 1782 you know, let's do it and everybody is waiting for the diplomats to get everything done, to get the peace treaty, let's end this, and there is hayes and going, come on we have one last chance let's go for canada again, i love it. washington writes him back going, interesting, send me your plans, you know and i think this is great. as a senior officer he is going, write it out for me about how this would actua

after yorktown that would be the last major battle of the war. after yorktown for about two years there was what we could call the cold war. the british hunkered down in new york city. george washington and the americans went up the river to newburgh which you see right here in my slides and for almost 2 years they just under down there in this cold war. it would bewashington's largest headquarters but the new type of challenge emerged . that was the challenge of boredom. without fighting the army had not been paid. they were hungry. literally bitterly cold winter after bitterly cold winter and washington was worried the army would fall apart or just as we wereready to seize victory and the revolutionary war . so go ahead, go to the next slide. what happened in his images of newburgh? in march 1783, on march 10 and the war would end the following fall. march 10 there was an unsigned letter circulated in washington's newburgh calling for rising up against george washington, washington was alarmed to say the least. it appears this mutiny, this insu

we might think we won the battle of yorktown.two french fighterslu on land and sea for every american even at yorktown. we are part of a larger world struggle. and at the time we are puny 3 million americans at 10 million bricks, 30 million french. >> washington noa starts all of this with his frontier fracas. but by yorktown he is there commanding the american army. and then in the next decade he will become the first president of this new country. you have him and you praise him as a constitutional thinker. this might strike people as a little odd. we note george washington was a brave man. we think of him as a great general obviously we think of him as a great executive. but he did not write any federalist papers. he did not write the declaration of independence. he was at the constitutional convention but he hardly said ndanything. and yet you identify very important constitutional thinker. so what is his contribution to this conversation? and how does he make it customer. >> substantively and methodologically he is the indis

think we won the battle, they were to stretch fighters on land and sea for every american even at yorktown, part of a larger world struggle and at the time of puny 3 million americans, 10 million bricks, 30 million french. >> washington in a way starts this frontier but by yorktown he's there commanding the megan army and in the next decade will become the first president of this new country and you praise him as a constitutional thinker. this might strike people as a little odd. we know george washington was a great man, a great general. obviously with think of him as the great executive but he didn't write any federalist papers, he didn't write the declaration of independence is at the constitutional convention and have they said anything that you identify what is the contribution to this conversation? >> he is the indispensable man. without him, there's no constitution remotelyle like the one we have. the method, speaking the conversation but you need someone to listen. in washington is not a great scribbler not a big talker or great writer for a pamphlet but a very good listener. he br

seeing troops from the rhode island regiment as a link with washington's troops on their way to yorktown. so, it's just an awesome scene to see james forten, given that moment of reflection with his hat in the middle there. you can see as these members of the rhode island regiment, predominantly african american members of this particular group, moving through. so, just an awesome scene. we are just getting ready for our actor, nathan alfred tate, as we begin this discussion that kalela will be moderating. good to see nathan here, as we get ready to get started. >> appreciate it. hello, everyone. thanks so much for coming. >> yeah, thank you. that was amazing. i always love seeing it. gosh, so many questions, so many questions to ask. i want to start with the idea of why we are all here tonight. why are we here? what does james forten's story have to tell us today? >> wow, well, for me, james forten's story, what's so critical is as a person of african descent who, as a nine year old, witnessed the words of the declaration of independence being read by sheriff jon nixon for the very firs

i watched the continental army marched to the streets of philadelphia on their way to yorktown. the road island regiment now with two all african companies much proudly by as brave men as ever fought. they were determined unstoppable. and i was too. we were doing our part to carve out our place in the new country. i was only home a few days before we were put to see again. i was ready to capture more british ships. but we were not as untouchable as i thought. we sailed over the horizons. and right into british hands i knew that death and battle could be a possibility but as a prisoner. for my white shipmates. i knew at best they would be exchanged for british prisoners. at worst they would be in prison for the extent of the war. but for me i had heard of other captured african sailors being shipped to the west indies. slavery death in the cane field i was terrified. i kept the lessons of my parents and the church close to heart. when we board it the british ship the ambient i promised myself that i had been taking a prisoner for the liberties of my country and would never prove

that is the cleavage pandemic sent the globe into yorktown. court's praise that doth states, middle thirties around the world, tend to new ways to keep legal wheels spinning fe went online. the principal argument is going to be that it saves time and it saves money. no one rhina is the chief executive of the n g, a fair trials international. at some point, you have to be willing to say that justice is more important than expediency. the greatest power government could wield short of, of warfare is the power to prosecute, to imprison in some places to put to death. the function of a criminal defense lawyer is to stand between the individual and that awesome use of power. and in order to do that, effectively, you have to be in personal contact with your client. ah, law was this, that has it been too much because fight this noted cautions across the globe. judiciary is we're quick to see the potential i'm the judge. and so with a software companies, digital justice with virtual court hearings from microsoft in help governments deliver justice at scale. inevitably, this new virtual world was not

the main battle of the revolutionary war was the battle of yorktown which is september not of 1781. that would be the last major battle of the war. for about two years this was what we could call a cold war for the british hunkered down in the city in george washington americans went up the river to newburgh which you see on my slide and from those two years they just hunkered down there. it would be washington's longest headquarters. any type of challenge emerged. that was the challenge of without fighting the army had not been. they were hungry bitterly cold winter after another bitterly cold winter in washington was worried that the army would fall apart. just as we were ready to seize victory in the revolutionary war. so with next flight. what happened in these images of newburgh in march of 1783 on march 10 the war would end up following fall. march 10 of 1783 there was an unsigned letter stipulating in washington's newburgh camp calling for a mutiny, calling for rising up against george washington could washington was alarmed to say the least. appears this mutiny this insurrec

research trip for my last book about the american revolution, in the hurricane's i, about the year of yorktown. there was a research trip to providence, rhode island, and made my way to the john brown house. this isn't john brown the abolitionist. this is john brown the opposite, slave trade around cofounder of brown university. in the back of his magisterial home is a little annex where there is what is known as john brown's chariot and it is to our modern i tiny. i compare the forward facing seats to the backseat of the the w bug, a tiny little thing and according to family tradition when the newly inaugurated president, george washington, was visiting providence, john brown gave washington a ride in that cherry it down to the shipyard where he was building a ship named for the new president. that got me to wondering. in the book i was writing, washington visited providence several times but i had no idea he had come to providence once he was president. why? why was he there? that led me to realize he went on a series of presidential trips in an attempt to create a sense of nationhood among

. >> but sometimes, the smaller yorktown, the less you know about what your neighbors are saying behindg in your face. nothing like that. >> it was way more subtle than that. >> how do you mean? >> probably everyone else was talking about it, but they didn't talk to us about it. >> no, they didn't. but lisa's younger sister, shawn, was talking. >> she saw a rocky marriage and her sister would not be a person that would commit suicide. >> this is steve pokin, who writes a column in the springfield news -- called poking around. which he did. and discovered that leases sister, sean, got busy, soon after that deadly christmas morning. >> in early january, she went to the office of the missouri state highway patrol to express their belief that this in fact was a murder. >> she looked into a highly experience detective name dan nash. >> longtime investigator who has been involved in several high-profile murder cases in the ozarks. >> and when sergeant nash took one look at that file, something forensic seemed off. he was inclined to agree with sean. it didn't look like suicide at all. >> he w

15 the day i watched the continental army run through the streets of philadelphia on their way to yorktown. the road island regiment. now is to all african companies march proudly by. brave men as ever fought. they were determined and unstoppable. i was too. we were doing our part to carve out our place in the new country. i was only home a few days before we put to see again. i was ready to capture more british ships. we were not as untouchable as i thought. we sailed over the horizons and right into british hands. i knew that doesn't battle could be a possibility, as a prisoner, for my white shipmates i knew at best they would be exchange for british prisoners at worst, they would be in prison for the extent of the war. for me, i had heard of

. >> i think it's probably refreshing to get zero credit of ushering us towards yorktown. >> which they do i hope i establish that in the book we were not winning that war without the french guys for quick we keep saying that. but no one is listening to us okay so i will turn this over, this is from joel. consider how fast everything move during the french revolution. does lafayette feel he failed france or that it was out of his control? would it be possible to emulate washington and france? rex okay, there are a couple questions in their. one of them is that it got to say by 1791 when gone through this series of debacles he's trying to be the commander of the national guard. he ends up resigning from the national guard in late 1791. by this point you really get the sense lafayette feels it's not that he failed but the people failed him. that he was doing the right thing and nay just kind of would not get on board with it. he felt like he was being treated very unfairly because he was being attacked by both the right and the left. he was playing a whack a mole with everything that was

and it's frustrating to them to get zero credit for assuring us on to yorktown. >> yeah. which they did do. i hope we've established that in the book. we were not winning that war without the french, guys. >> no, we keep saying that. but they were like, freedom fries. okay, so i will turn this over. this is from joel. considering how fast everything moved in the french revolution, does lafayette feel like he failed france? or that it was out of his control? would be possible to emulate washington from france? >> okay. there are a couple of questions in there. one of them is that, i've got to say, by 1791, when lafayette has gone through this series of debacle's, as he is trying to be commander of the national guard and he winds up resigning from the national guard in late 1791 -- by this point, you really get the sense that lafayette feels like it is not that he failed, it said the people failed him. that he was doing the right thing and they just kind of wouldn't get on board with him. and he was being treated unfairly. because he was being attacked by both the right and