Steve Parker:

There were plenty of African families that settled in the Northern Seaport Towns by choice and not by being enslaved. Mostly they were the families of sailors who'd signed on American and British merchant ships and saw a better life here than the stone age culture they left in Africa. They went back to get there families and returned to settle in places like New York, Newport, Portsmouth, Boston and Philidelphia. The Battle of Lake Erie which proved that Brittania did not rule the "Fresh Water" waves was fought by an expedition from Rhode Island under the command of Olliver Hazard Perry. Half of it's members were free Black Yankees who crossed the mountains, built the ships, then got in them and fought a fleet of His Majesty's best and gained an important victory.
In this case, it was Free Englishmen and Free Africans who defeated a force of enslaved (Impressed) British subjects forced into service by
a brutal aristocracy
In addition, they showed the world that brutality and cruelty were not necessary for building a strong navy.

Of interest to our Japanese friends, Oliver Hazard Perry was the oldest brother of Mathew Perry. The Perry family lived in a three story wooden house on the corner of Walnut and second streets in my hometown of Newport, Rhode Island. This house is still there, in good shape, and occupied by a middle class family.

Jody Gibson