One of my favorite stories to tell my students (I am a US History Professor) is about James Armistead Lafayette. You can read about him and other Black heroes of the American Revolution HERE This YouTube video about him is also cool!

He was a slave who infiltrated the British forces and relayed information back to the Marquis de Lafayette and George Washington. He was so trusted by the British that they sent him to spy on the Americans! Of course he gave the British false information. The intelligence he gathered helped lead to the defeat and surrender of the British at the Battle of Yorktown. After the war, he tried to petition for his freedom. It wasnt until the Marquis de Lafayette wrote the US government a letter on his behalf that he was given his freedom in 1787. He later changed his name to James Armistead Lafayette.