Author: Martin Binkin Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield ISBN: 9780815705666 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 212
Book Description
For much of the nation's history, the participation of blacks in the armed forces was approximately in line with their proportion in the total population. This changed during the 1970s: by 1980 one of every three Army Gls and one of every five marines were black. The reaction has been mixed. Many Americans look with approval on the growth of black participation in military service, since it often affords young blacks educational, social, and financial opportunities that constitute a bridge to a better life not otherwise available to them. But for other Americans, the opportunities are outweighed by the disproportionate imposition of the burden of defense on a segment of the population that has not enjoyed a fair share of the benefits that society confers. From this perspective, the likelihood that blacks would suffer at least a third-and perhaps a half-of the combat fatalities in the initial stages of conflict is considered immoral, unethical, or otherwise contrary to the precepts of democratic institutions. Some also worry that military forces with such a high fraction of blacks entail risks to U.S. national security. A socially unrepresentative force, it is argued, may lack the cohesion considered vital to combat effectiveness. Others fear that such a force would be unreliable if it were deployed in situations that would test the allegiance of its minority members. And some have even expressed concern that a large proportion of blacks may raise questions about the status of U.S fighting forces, as judged by the American public, the nation's allies, and its adversaries. The authors of this book examine evidence on both sides of the issue in an effort to bring objective scrutiny to bear on questions that for many years have been loaded with emotion and subjective reaction. They also discuss the implications for the military's racial composition of demographic, economic, and technological trends and the possible effects of returning to some form of conscription.
Author: G.L.A. Harris Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield ISBN: 149856786X Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 268
Book Description
African Americans have long used the military for gaining legitimacy and the ultimate path to citizenship. Blacks in the Military and Beyond chronicles their tumultuous journey from slavery through the present, extending the history to significant factors in determining whether or not serving in the military has indeed advantaged Blacks.
Author: Rawn James, Jr. Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA ISBN: 1608196224 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 300
Book Description
The century-long struggle to achieve equality for America's black soldiers and sailors, in a stirring narrative history by the author of Root and Branch
Author: Phillip McGuire Publisher: University Press of Kentucky ISBN: 0813148995 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 320
Book Description
Many black soldiers serving in the U.S. Army during World War II hoped that they might make permanent gains as a result of their military service and their willingness to defend their country. They were soon disabused of such illusions. Taps for a Jim Crow Army is a powerful collection of letters written by black soldiers in the 1940s to various government and nongovernment officials. The soldiers expressed their disillusionment, rage, and anguish over the discrimination and segregation they experienced in the Army. Most black troops were denied entry into army specialist schools; black officers were not allowed to command white officers; black soldiers were served poorer food and were forced to ride Jim Crow military buses into town and to sit in Jim Crow base movie theaters. In the South, German POWs could use the same latrines as white American soldiers, but blacks could not. The original foreword by Benjamin Quarles, professor emeritus of history at Morgan State University, and a new foreword by Bernard C. Nalty, the chief historian in the Office of Air Force History, offer rich insights into the world of these soldiers.
Author: Michael Lee Lanning Publisher: Citadel Press ISBN: 9780806526294 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 344
Book Description
In this moving and revealing account, Michael Lee Lanning brings to life the battles in which African Americans fought so courageously to become full citizens by risking their lives for their country. This updated edition includes analyses of African-American soldiers' involvement in recent U.S. conflicts, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Author: John David Smith Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press ISBN: 0807875996 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 478
Book Description
Inspired and informed by the latest research in African American, military, and social history, the fourteen original essays in this book tell the stories of the African American soldiers who fought for the Union cause. An introductory essay surveys the history of the U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) from emancipation to the end of the Civil War. Seven essays focus on the role of the USCT in combat, chronicling the contributions of African Americans who fought at Port Hudson, Milliken's Bend, Olustee, Fort Pillow, Petersburg, Saltville, and Nashville. Other essays explore the recruitment of black troops in the Mississippi Valley; the U.S. Colored Cavalry; the military leadership of Colonels Thomas Higginson, James Montgomery, and Robert Shaw; African American chaplain Henry McNeal Turner; the black troops who occupied postwar Charleston; and the experiences of USCT veterans in postwar North Carolina. Collectively, these essays probe the broad military, political, and social significance of black soldiers' armed service, enriching our understanding of the Civil War and African American life during and after the conflict. The contributors are Anne J. Bailey, Arthur W. Bergeron Jr., John Cimprich, Lawrence Lee Hewitt, Richard Lowe, Thomas D. Mays, Michael T. Meier, Edwin S. Redkey, Richard Reid, William Glenn Robertson, John David Smith, Noah Andre Trudeau, Keith Wilson, and Robert J. Zalimas Jr.
Author: DIANE Publishing Company Publisher: DIANE Publishing ISBN: 9780788126451 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 360
Book Description
Covers every war fought by the U.S. Includes: both men and women, black recipients of the medals of honor, black military role models, graduates of the military service academies, statistical factors on blacks in the military, black civilian workforce in the DoD, and much more. Encyclopedic! Over 200 photos, including: General Colin L. Powell, Brig. Gen. Hazel W. Johnson, Gen. Roscoe Robinson, Jr., Brig. Gen. Marcelite J. Harris, Gen. Bernard P. Randolph, Astronaut Mae. C. Jemison, Lt. Col. Thomas L. Bain, Brig. Gen. Sherian G. Cadoria.
Author: Elliott Vanveltner Converse Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 9780786402779 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 212
Book Description
The purpose of this study, commissioned by the Army, was to document the process by which the Congressional Medal of Honor was awarded from December 7, 1941, through September 1, 1948; to identify units in which African Americans served; to identify by name all black soldiers whose names were submitted for the medal and to document any errors in the processing of their nominations; and to compile a list of all black soldiers who received the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest award. Based on this work, in January 1997 President Clinton awarded seven African Americans the Medal of Honor. The authors were selected by Shaw University of Raleigh, North Carolina, to conduct this study under a United States Army contract.
Author: Martin Binkin
Author: Jack D. Foner
Author: Bernard C. Nalty
Author: G.L.A. Harris
Author: Rawn James, Jr.
Author: Phillip McGuire
Author: Michael Lee Lanning
Author: John David Smith
Author: DIANE Publishing Company
Author: Elliott Vanveltner Converse