Peter Salem Day

In June 1927, the National Equal Rights League issued a nation-wide call to instate Peter Salem Day on June 17 of every year, in order to honor Peter Salem, an African American soldier in the American War for Independence, and to highlight the valuable service and sacrifice African Americans have made from the country's birth through every military conflict. A number of remarkable African American men served in the Battles of Saratoga - hear stories about a few of the many hundreds of free and enslaved black men who fought here!