During the American Revolution, slaves made up at least 25 percent of the population of N.C. In reality, blacks totaled perhaps seventy thousand but only about 5 percent were free. Most Black people lived in the countryside and worked on land. Some worked at trades or were servants to slave holders. Skilled slaves worked as carpenters, coopers, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and other skill requiring occupations. In towns on the coast they worked in the shipping business.

Blacks faced difficult choices with the war. They fought for both sides, providing manpower to both the British and the revolutionaries. Most believed that victory by the British would lead to the end of their slavery, especially with the new rule the British had of allowing the black people to fight for them in return for freedom.

Fears of a slave revolt gripped the South. Before the war, British military leaders recognized that the southern colonies could be greatly weakened by an uprising of slaves against their masters.

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-revolution/1917