Hollywood marks Black History Month with mini-series on Revolutionary War

NEW YORK (WABC) -- This month, Hollywood is marking Black History Month with a mini-series that takes a hard look at slavery, the Revolutionary War, and the search for freedom.

The characters are fictional. But for one of the stars, Louis Gossett, Jr., the true stories behind them hit home.

The miniseries on B.E.T. takes its title from one of the most famous documents in African-American history: the first official record of black people in America, says Louis Gossett, Jr. "It's called 'The Book of Negroes,'" he said.

The book now located in the National Archives, is a ledger made by the British who were fighting the Revolutionary War and losing.

"They needed all the help they could get so they enlisted African-Americans here to fight with them," said one of the stars, actress Aunjanue Ellis.

The character played by Aunjanue Ellis helps her neighbors to sign up with the British.

"Men and women, they served in all kinds of different ways, and if they served the British, they would get their freedom, and they would get land that was promised to them," said Ellis.

Land in Canada:

"They left everything behind to start a new life in Nova Scotia. Everything they knew. I mean these are southerners going to cold and forbidding Canada," said Ellis.

But when they reached there: "The promises were not fulfilled. The promised land was not the promised land we were told," said Gossett.

This is merely one chapter in the epic life of Aminata Diallo, a fictional character used to tell a very real story.

"I'm always humbled by the more I learn about who we are," said Ellis.

"It was hammered into my mind once again because of the rough life we've had or anybody has had when they're a minority that there is no such thing as impossible," said Gossett.