To the editor: A 4th of July thought about the first African-Americans:

Before I was an African-American I was just an African.

Then I was called colored, then Negro, then black. (Called some other things, too).

The 4th of July, Independence Day, meant nothing to me (regardless of what I was called, or what I called myself).

Then I thought, "Who were the First African-Americans?" (First Africans to become citizens of the United States of America.) The Atlantic African slave trade brought me from Africa. I ended up in the Colonies. (I was certainly an African.)

Some Africans lived in Northern colonies, some in Southern colonies. Northern colonies wanted to end taxes, Southern colonies wanted to continue slavery. (Africans just wanted to be free.)

Then a war broke out between England and the Colonies. (Both sides needed me to fight for them. I just wanted to be free. Some Africans fought for the English, some for the Colonies. They just wanted to be free.)

Five thousand Africans fought in the Revolutionary Army, untold numbers on the sea.

Two thousand Africans, more than from any other colony, came from Massachusetts. Before the end of the war, Africans in Massachusetts, by their protest in the courts and with their blood on the battlefield, freed themselves. (The first great emancipation.)

The Colonies won the war, but not without the help of Africans. (The English lost the war, but it was not the fault of the Africans.)

On the 4th of July 1776, the Colonies declared themselves the United States of America.

At the surrender of the English at Yorktown, many Africans stood there in the ranks as the English stacked their arms. Those Africans from Massachusetts, and all other Africans who fought for the Colonies, became the first African-Americans.

Sadly those in the Southern Colonies who fought for the English, who just wanted to be free, and were not taken to England or escaped to Canada, were re-enslaved and were horribly treated.

Hooray for the 4th of July, hooray for the U.S.A. Red Mitchell, Plainville

To the editor: Re:"Responsibilities ride in tandem with rights" (June 28) concerning the 4th of July celebrations and holiday. While I agree with many of the letter writer's views, I wish to offer a few additional points.

Without a doubt, the yearly celebration of our constitutional democracy's hard-won independence from tyrannical George III should be celebrated in many ways, and should be much more than just "beer, bands, and barbecues." The idea of independence should be important to every one of us, cradle to grave, each and every day. However, while we pay respect and homage to America's original mostly voluntary citizen-soldiers, let us not forget or in any way slight the many other proud, rebellious patriots who didn't tote a piece, spill a drop of Lobsterback blood, or wear a uniform, yet in countless ways put themselves at risk for what they believed in and carried out selfless acts to help "forge a new nation, conceived in liberty, with freedom and justice for all." The sword is mighty and deadly; so is the pen!

Members of the military should be given their just due on Independence Day, but all other patriotic Americans should be respected and honored equally, for all they have said and done to bring about and constantly, vigilantly and peacefully maintain our basic, inclusive, expanding of rights and freedoms for all Americans, and for future generations yet to come. Let's finally ring the cracked and proud Liberty Bell, this Fourth of July, for all who have, in so many, varying ways, served us so faithfully and well. Let's make freedom, justice, and equality living, breathing concepts to be practiced by all of us, for all of us this July Fourth, 2009 and for all the Fourths to come. Let freedom truly ring!

David Daugman, Attleboro