Next Saturday marks the 233rd anniversary of the day the United States declared its independence from the British Empire. It was a singular event. A small group of colonies had the bodacious self-assurance to believe it could challenge and prevail over the most powerful political and military power in the world. That bid for liberty, taking place on a cool and sunny day in Philadelphia, July 4, 1776, introduced a new conception of freedom for nation states and ultimately a new conception of freedom for individuals. An enduring irony is the way in which the Founding Fathers were able to agitate for their own freedom but were unwilling to grant it to the slaves they kept, even slaves willing to go to battle for independence as the colonists themselves were doing.

Gen. George Washington, the Virginia aristocrat, after being named commander of the Continental Army, announced on July 9, 1776, that no more blacks would be allowed to sign up for military duty although blacks had been honored for bravery and fought alongside white troops at Bunker Hill, Concord and Lexington. (He later rescinded that decision to allow free blacks but not slaves to be recruited.) The British seized the opportunity and thousands of blacks, given the promise of freedom, joined up to fight with the royal army. As the colonists fought for liberty from the British, the African Americans fought for their own liberty—from bondage. The renowned English writer Samuel Johnson noticed this discrepancy and said in 1775, “How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of the Negroes?”

Crispus Attucks was among the African Americans that were in the forefront of the freedom fight. He was known as the “first to defy (British troops) and the first to die” in the American Revolution. As colonists confronted British troops he and four others were killed in 1770 in what became known at the Boston Massacre. It has been estimated that about 100,000 African Americans died, escaped or were killed during the Revolutionary War. In the wake of that revolution African Americans began the long and difficult struggle for equality that persists until this day. African Americans have fought in every one of this nation’s wars since that time.

The moral basis on which the United States was founded has its parallel in the lives of its individual citizens. Self-determination became the standard by which the nation came to judge itself. Self-determination for the individual became the yardstick by which his freedom was measured. The ability to make decisions that affect one’s own life is one of the hallmarks of what it means to be a human being.

When I was growing up in North Memphis, I remember some of my peers saying – often while bristling over some parental mandate – “I’ll be glad when I get to be 21 (then the age of majority) so I can do what I want to do.” However, upon reaching that milestone they often were rudely awakened to the fact that after becoming an adult they had to more things they didn’t want to than before—things such as getting a job and paying bills. Later I learned the proverb, “Freedom is resting easy in the harness,” a statement based on the idea of the restriction placed on horses so they can be managed. Some restrictions affect everyone and can be accepted as part of the human condition, while others must be fought against valiantly. Discerning the difference sometimes is extremely difficult. Ralph Waldo Emerson noted that in trying to break from the dominion of the crown the embattled farmers “fired the shot heard round the world,” a shot that continued to reverberate through the years as African Americans protested and petitioned for justice.

Building a democratic nation has turned into a long-term project. The United States of America is 233 years old and, as someone has said, is the only nation with a specific birthday. This American democracy has given much to its citizens, and they have sacrificed much on its behalf. Yet there are many areas in which black Americans have been shortchanged, especially in regard to jobs, housing and education. African Americans must continue with relentless activism to help ensure that “freedom and justice for all” is made into a reality.

(George E. Hardin worked as a photographer, reporter and editor, and in public relations during a long career before he retired. His column appears every other week.)