Before the Civil War and the Fourteenth amendment, there were free blacks who lived, thrived, and contributed significantly to the early history of the United States. Of course life as a free black American in the colonies was not easy, and they faced a myriad of challenges that related directly to the color of their skin. But many were able to live good and even remarkable lives that deserve to be remembered.
During the civil war, the manufacture of powder and explosives was often handled by the most vulnerable, young women and children, whose labor was needed when so many men had been sent off to war. On March 13, 1863, the confederacy experienced a munitions disaster, in the confederate capitol of Richmond.