Exhibits & Films at American Revolution Museum at Yorktown

Throughout the year, visitors to the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown can explore gallery exhibits, films and programs that recount the experiences of Africans and African Americans in early America, from the first recorded West Central Africans in Virginia in 1619 to the role of African Americans in the Revolutionary War.

Visitors also can explore the contributions of both well-known and little-known participants in the Revolutionary War. Learn about diverse Americans such as Patriots and Loyalists, women and enslaved and free African Americans. These include Benjamin Banneker, a free African American who became famous in the 1790s as a scientist and writer. An interactive exhibit shares accounts of Billy Flora, an African American hero of the Battle of Great Bridge in 1775, and James Lafayette, an enslaved African American from New Kent County, Virginia, who successfully spied on the British for the American forces.

A circa 1733 portrait of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo by William Hoare. One of the two earliest known portraits done from life of an African who had been enslaved in the 13 British colonies that became the United States of America. Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation collection. JYF2014.4

Artifacts

Among the iconic artifacts on exhibit is a circa 1733 portrait of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo. This is one of the two earliest known portraits done from life of an African who had been enslaved in the 13 British colonies that became the United States of America. Also on display, a first edition of Phillis Wheatley’s “1773 Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral,” the first book to be published by a woman of African descent.

Along the museum’s Grand Corridor, visitors can see representations of a coat worn by formerly enslaved people who joined the British 33rd Regiment of Foot. The collection also holds a hat from the American army’s 1st Rhode Island Regiment, which included several companies of African American soldiers during the Revolution.

Re-creation of Revolution-era Farm

The Revolution-era farm evokes the world of the 18th-century family of Edward Moss (c.1757-1786), whose life is well-documented in records from York County, Virginia. Moss leased 200 acres from a wealthy cousin. At the time of his death, he owned six enslaved men, women and children. The story of Edward Moss and his family provides historical interpreters a frame of reference for talking about farm and domestic life as well as the lives of enslaved African Americans during the American Revolution period. A distinctive new feature of the farm is a 12- by 10-foot building to represent quarters for enslaved people. It is constructed of log walls, wood clapboard eaves and roof, equipped with a fireplace, stick and mud chimney and a storage pit common in this type of dwelling.

Liberty Fever

Shown every 30 minutes in the museum theater, “Liberty Fever” is an exceptional sensory experience using stationary silhouettes and moving shadow puppets scrolling on a large “crankie” interwoven with live-action film segments. This film features the stories of five people who lived during the American Revolution, including Billy Flora, an African American hero of the Battle of Great Bridge in 1775.