Right to Serve, Right to Lead: Lives and Legacies of the USCT (original) (raw)
Related papers
A Historic Context for the African American Military Experience
The purpose of this report is to recognize and highlight the contributions of African Americans to the military history of the United States. This is accomplished by providing a historic context on the African American military experience for use by Department of Defense (DoD) cultural resource managers. Managers can use this historic context, to recognize significant sites, buildings, and objects on DoD property related to African American military history by nominating them for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. In this manner, civilian and military personnel currently serving in all major services will be made aware of the contributions of African Americans to our military heritage. While the focus of this work is on all-black military units, significant individuals will be recognized also.
CIVIL RIGHTS PIONEERS: BUILDING RACE CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE WWII ARMED FORCES
Diasporas and Cultures of Mobilities, Vol 3, 2016
The black American ‘Citizen Soldiers’ who participated in the ‘Good War’ also form part of the ‘Greatest Generation,’ yet they are barely visible in the general histories of the Second World War (WWII). Most scholars agree that WWII was a watershed event that affected people all around the world yet African American soldiers are generally absent in the historiography of the era. Black military veterans were active participants in the panoply of the civil rights movement after the war, yet they are mostly missing in action in that narrative as well. Why have representations of WWII and the civil rights movement generally overlooked the multitude of black soldier’s experiences? How can we ‘save the black privates’ from obscurity? This work will highlight the agency of African American veterans who worked collectively and individually to fight racism during the war years of the 1940s, and also, were empowered to provide leadership and military skills as foot soldiers within the long civil rights movement.
After the glory: the struggles of Black Civil War veterans
The Journal of Military History, 2004
has written an important book that examines the lives of African-American Civil War veterans from the war's end to the turn of the 20th century. While the years of actual combat are receiving increasing scholarly attention, After the Glory addresses a significant void in the literature by presenting the first extended analysis of black veterans' postwar experiences. Shaffer makes extensive use of a wide range of sources, including published biographies, memoirs, early histories, scattered manuscript collections and Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) records, Works Progress Administration interviews with former slaves, and, most impressively, Civil War pension files housed at the National Archives. Using a random sample of over 1,000 pension claims from black veterans or their survivors to complement assorted published descriptions of veterans' lives, Shaffer constructs a collective biography that augments statistical data (much of which is presented in a brief Appendix) with the rich personal details that many of the pension files contain. While the book makes a valuable contribution, some of its emphases and interpretations are open to question.
Three Generations, Three Wars: African American Veterans
The Gerontologist, 2016
This article emerged from pilot research exploring experiences of war and suffering among African American veterans who served in World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War. Men's experiences as soldiers reflected both racism and the social change that occurred in the Unites States while they served. We used techniques of narrative elicitation, conducting qualitative, ethnographic interviews with each of five veterans in his home. Interviews focused on unique and shared experiences as an African American man and a soldier. Three important themes emerged: (a) Expectations related to War--Although men viewed service to country as an expected part of life, they also expected equal treatment in war, which did not occur; (b) Suffering as an African American--Informants interpreted experiences of suffering in war as related to the lower status of African American servicemen; and (c) Perception of present identity--Each man was honed by the sum of his experiences, including those of com...
Is This the Fruit of Freedom?" Black Civil War Veterans in Tennessee
trace.tennessee.edu
My interest in black Civil War veterans began in a research seminar during my first semester of graduate work at Tennessee, and from the very start my advisor, Steve Ash, generously offered his time and expertise. His close reading of draft after draft (and the sacrifice of countless red pens) vastly improved the final product. Whatever progress I have made as a writer and historian is largely the result of his efforts. Throughout my time at Tennessee, Dan Feller was encouraging and enthusiastic; he, Kurt Piehler, and Asafa Jalata deserve special thanks for their service on my dissertation committee.
Away to Freedom: African American Soldiers and the War of 1812
2011
you both have influenced me more than you could ever imagine. I would like to acknowledge my only cohort completing a thesis with me, Tiffany C. Evans-we did it. I would like to thank the faculty of Buena Vista High School in Saginaw, Michigan, especially Mrs. Johnson the best high school counselor a student could ask for. I would like to acknowledge David Anderson for helping me become the man I am today. I would like to give a special acknowledgement and thank you to Professor Jan Carew. Professor, just knowing you has truly been a honor and inspiration. I would like to acknowledge my former students at Mountain Gap Middle School, Lowe's Grove Middle School, and Wilcox Central High School. As I hoped to have inspired you, you all iv have inspired me. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge the late Ruthie Lee Tanner. Grandma, though you are no longer with us, your influence and love shall always be here.
Wearing the gray suit : black enlistment and the Confederate military
Doctoral thesis, University of London., 2001
This thesis examines the role and place of slaves and free black Southerners in the Confederate Army dwing the American Civil War 1861-1865. Much has been written on the use of slaves and free blacks as a conscript labour force for the Confederacy during the war, but there has been little serious examination of their role within the South's military infrastructure. I argue that black Southerners participated for varied reasons and situations throughout the war as an earlier version of twentieth century military support staff Their role in the regiments of the Confederacy provided them with the title of soldier. It was this role which was defined in Confederate legislative policy, supported through military regulations and verified in company muster and pay sheets. In the post war period these same sources of documentation were utilised by Southern legislators, white veterans, and eventually black 'army veterans,' within the former Confederate states, to establish, Confederate veterans pension benefit. Although there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that, depending upon the circumstance, some blacks Southerners actually fought for the Confederacy, overall these occurrences were rare. I argue that up until March 1865, instances of black Southerners in combat situations had more to do with the confusion and 'fog of battle,' then a concerted effort by the military high command to place blacks in the ranks as actual combatants. This idea is further supported in the stories written by white veterans, who, in publications like the Confederate Veteran, spoke of such "occurrences" with pride, while at the same time tempered them with concern for the safety of their property. Overall the research addresses the issues sunounding the role and place of black Southerners within the Confederate Army, and the reasoning behind their involvement in the war effort.
2021
As with most researchable source material, the voices of minorities and marginalized groups are often unavailable, nonexistent, or heavily obscured by the voices of their more privileged counterparts. The Civil War, for instance, is studied through a predominantly white lens, despite the importance of African American soldiers, civilians, and enslaved individuals enveloped in this conflict. This paper aims to analyze the African American perspective on the Civil War (1861-1865) and early antebellum period through the words of these individuals and the experiences of David Demus, an infantryman in the all-black 54th Massachusetts Regiment, and his family. Utilizing correspondence, letters, military and pension records, and individual black testimonials, the following is an attempt to more fully understand life on both the battlefield and home front for African Americans during an era plagued by war, slavery, and systematic racism, as well as how these individuals ultimately contributed to the evolution of societal ideals and behaviors within the scope of race, still pertinent today. On July 17, 1862, after facing well over a year of bitter combat losses to the Confederate Army, Union President Abraham Lincoln signed Congress's Second Confiscation and Militia Acts. The passage of these acts not only emphasized how urgently enervated and desperate the preexisting Union forces were, but would solidify Lincoln's switch from the rejection of black soldiers joining Union forces in fear of losing the support of border states to allowing and, eventually, fully supporting the inclusion of black troops. While the act itself was not a conscriptive call to arms, it authorized Lincoln "to employ as many persons of African descent as he may deem necessary and proper for the suppression of this rebellion.. . in such manner as he may judge best for the public welfare" as well as inspired blacks and "Southern contraband individuals" to join the fight for unity and freedom. Serving as one of the first all-black regiments, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw set a precedent and an inspiration for minority participation during the war. As noted by James Henry Gooding, a free black man living in New Bedford, Massachusetts, "Does it not behoove every black man to consider.. . whether he cannot be one of the glorious 54th?. .. There is more dignity in carrying a musket in defense of liberty and right than there is in shaving a man's face, or waiting on somebody's table." Despite the bravery and strength millions of black soldiers and their families had shown during this period, the voices of these individuals are often unheard or obscured by white men's voices: Additionally, it also depended on whether there was an audience that was willing to both listen and document the lives of USCT (United States Colored Troops) * Tora Ueland is a senior from Salem, Massachusetts. She is currently pursuing her BA in history with minors in forensic science and English. Her research interests include the Civil War and the history of criminal behavior.