True bravery is serving your country from deep inside the lion's den. James Armistead Lafayette was an enslaved man from Virginia who volunteered to work for the British military during the American Revolution. They made him a spy. What the British didn't know was that Lafayette was already working for the Continental Army, who arranged his move to the British. As a double agent, Lafayette fed false or useless information to the British while relaying critical information to the Americans. After the war, he did not achieve his freedom as promised, because he was a spy instead of a soldier, until 1787.
Mental Floss has a list of "forgotten figures" of the American Revolution. Why were they forgotten? Some of them fought for the British side, and were therefore ignored in American history classes, and this war is barely a side note in British history. Some of them were Black or women. I would argue about Crispus Attucks being a forgotten figure, since we all learned in school that he was the first person killed in the war. But his story and those of seven others are all worth reading as we prepare to celebrate the 249th birthday of the USA.