African Americans in the Military

The racism of white Americans has been historically the most fundamental factor affecting the place of African Americans in the United States military establishment. The American colonies and later the United States formed a democracy rooted in the racial construct of white supremacy. White Americans subjected black people first to slavery and then to racial segregation. The American government's [Page 16]denial of citizenship to black people forced them to find avenues through which they could prove their worthiness to have rights equal to those of white Americans. The willingness to shed blood and even die in defense of the country seemed to offer one path.

Yet African Americans learned repeatedly that military service to their country—even in wartime—did not ensure equality with white people. Black achievement went unremarked, except by other African Americans. It is a tribute to the perseverance of black American soldiers and civilians, and to the few white Americans who recognized the injustice and inefficiency that resulted from racism, that, in the 1940s, the United States finally made progress toward racial equality and recognition of black achievements and rights. In this evolution the military, instead of reflecting the attitudes of the most reactionary of racists—its southern officers—actually took the lead by integrating its ranks. By the beginning of the 21st century, the military had become a model for the rest of society in the area of civil rights.

As early as the 1600s in colonial America, black men served alongside white soldiers in some colonial militias. Yet only direct threat from invasion or Native American attacks compelled white colonists to arm black men and admit them into colonial militias. After the threat had passed, black soldiers found their numbers invariably diminished and their service forgotten. On the other hand, because harsh conditions at sea meant that naval service did not attract sufficient numbers of white men, black sailors throughout the colonial era served in integrated crews with their white shipmates.

In colonial times, white Americans pitted black Americans, free and slave, against Native Americans. In 1703, South Carolina actually promised freedom to slaves who killed or captured the red enemy—provided a white person witnessed his exploit—only to withdraw this promise in 1719 because of its threat to the institution of slavery. Twenty years later, white South Carolinians used Native American allies to suppress the Stono slave uprising.

With the approach of the American Revolution, freedman Crispus Attucks was among the five people killed by British soldiers in the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770. Later, in 1775, African Americans fought in the New England units of the revolutionary forces. Many white soldiers arriving from the South to join forces in the North objected to the presence of black soldiers. Gen. George Washington consequently decided on October 8, 1775, to accept only white soldiers in the future. Black veterans could reenlist in the Continental Army, and Washington's desperate need for manpower enabled New England recruiters to ignore the ban and enlist free and enslaved blacks. However, black soldiers now found themselves increasingly relegated to laborintensive noncombat roles such as building fortifications.

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