Patriot’s Past Inspires Fresh Look At History

As men in dark blue uniforms marched with muskets through Grove Street Cemetery, Calvin Alexander Ramsey took a headstone tour, revived the memory of a Revolutionary War soldier named John Epps — and spoke of plans to bring his own history of Black patriotism to a city stage.

Ramsey, a playwright, was at the cemetery Monday for the 70th July 4th celebration held by the Sons of the American Revolution to recognize those who fought for America’s independence from Great Britain.

Ramsey recognized the role one of his own ancestors had played in defending the country he calls home.

Ramsey’s fifth great-grandfather, John Epps, was just 14 years old when he joined the Virginia militia — despite the fact that most Black individuals surrounding him at the time were enslaved. He was one of some 5,000 Black people who fought to defend the United States through the Revolutionary War, though the freedoms he helped to secure did not extend to many people who looked like him.

Because his mother was a white woman, Epps was born free. And because he served in the Revolutionary War, he was able to die with a pension and 278 acres of land.

Ramsey himself was born in Baltimore. He grew up in Roxboro, North Carolina, and has since lived between New York City and Sarasota, Florida, until four weeks ago, at which point he moved to New Haven. 

He is currently searching for local venues to stage his latest show, a play about Edward Bouchet, the first African American to receive a doctorate degree from an American university. (He received a PhD in physics from Yale in 1876.)

Ramsey, who became part of the Tampa Bay chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution a year back after discovering his forefather’s past, joined the New Haven chapter of S.A.R. Monday as they walked by the graves of famous figures in history like Roger Sherman, an original signer of the declaration, and David Humphreys, a Connecticut legislator and American Revolutionary War colonel. Ramsey was one of three Black people amid a crowd of roughly 40 white attendees. 

During the hours-long event, a series of speakers praised ​“the famous founding fathers” who ​“secured our freedom and gave us the greatest country ever known,” to quote Christopher Bandecchi, the president of the General David Humphreys Branch of the S.A.R.

Chaplain Rich Kendall described the United States as ​“the only Christian nation ever founded in the world,” and urged his audience to ​“keep the spirit of 1776 forever in our hearts.”

While Ramsey listened to those speeches, he spent time alongside the likes of Michael Morand, the director of public relations and communications at the Beinecke Library, acquainting himself with the history of his new home by observing the grave sites of local African Americans. Those include people like William Grimes, who wrote what’s considered the first personal account of an American’s escape from slavery.

Ramsey has long been interested in researching and articulating stories of African American life that may otherwise be forgotten.

Until 2001, Ramsey was an insurance agent with Aflac. ​“9/11 changed everything,” he said. The suicide attacks led him to decide to pursue his real passion: Documenting history through storytelling.

Ramsey has since written several plays concerning the conditions of Black life in America, including Damaged Virtues, a story about the enslaved Black women experimented on by Dr. J. Marion Sims, considered the founding father of modern gynecology. 

So Ramsey was eager to learn the multifaceted histories of New Haveners on Monday. He was also looking to share the story of his Virginian forefather. 

He connected with a historian and genealogist — who also happened to be a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution — while working on a project about Emma Booker, an African American educator who taught at Sarasota County’s first Black school. That’s when he learned of one of his connections to the Revolutionary War, which caused ​“the whole earth to move under my feet.”

Learning Epps’ story served as the second turning point inn Ramsey’s dedication to bringing true stories from the past into artistic presents: He felt a specific ​“obligation” to share the one story he felt he had inherited through ​“divine intervention.”

Over the coming months, he plans to write a play or musical — which will potentially feature hip hop-inspired show tunes in the mode of Hamilton — in an attempt to educate audiences, especially minorities, he said, about Epps’ life and the ways that Black people contributed to the nation’s independence.

He said he also believes he has an important role in the S.A.R., to show that ​“there were people working together, both white and Black, of different religions,” in the Revolutionary War.

“I would be disrespecting my ancestors if I didn’t try to tell this story,” he said. It was not until he found out about Epps’ choice to fight in the war against Britain that Ramsey said he finally felt that ​“I belong to this country too.”

Ramsey argued that while many white families have long identified their genetic links to patriots and found pride in that past, fewer Black families are aware of possible ancestral connections to people who served as patriots.

His understanding of Epps’ background made him realize that in addition to drafting biographical histories, he wanted to inspire others to learn their own familial truths.

“I’m pushing for more education,” he said. With immigrant children born ​“into cages,” people must ​“unite” rather than divide themselves in order to fight for greater freedoms for all, he said.

He said he is happy to have a ​“home base in New Haven,” where ​“people are so unique and different — they’re real readers who put an emphasis on knowledge rather than on the latest designer jewelry,” he observed.”

“This place is so small you gotta get along with people!” he added.

In the meantime, Ramsey said he would be celebrating Independence Day by hitting the history books — and diving into deeper research about his own relatives.