The Enslaved Man-Turned-Spy Who Helped Washington Win America's Independence: James Armistead Lafayette
Jan 30, 2026
10:49
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On this episode of Our American Stories, for most of his life, James Armistead Lafayette was known simply as James—not Lafayette. That last name came later, and from none other than the Marquis de Lafayette of the American Revolution. But why would an enslaved man take the last name of a French military officer? Here's Kirk Higgins of the Bill of Rights Institute with the story of one of America's most important, underappreciated, and little-known spies during the American Revolution.
Our American Stories