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Black History Month

© Dennis Morehouse

Military history ignores no group, nor exalts one over another. The RECORDING of that history, on the other hand, often does both. Finding history on minority groups has always been difficult and this sometimes leads members of these groups to conclude that they have accomplished nothing.

There still remains a deficiency, however, in having that history easily visible to the mainstream, but that is slowly being improved on by the information available on the Internet. There are currently a wide variety of sites that focus on, or include black military history, from the Revolution to current times. Some gaps in this coverage include WW I, for which there is very little available; and the period following integration in 1947. The latter period makes it very difficult to search for information by race, and therefore, only those who reach high positions are liable to be recognized.

There are heroes and role models from every conceivable background. Military tradition recognizes unit accomplishments as well as individual, so units will also be mentioned here. Every human being has the potential for heroism and leadership; only a few of us ever have the opportunity to live up to our potential. For Black History Month, here are some of the heroes who were Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen, and who also happened to be black.

There is little information available on individual Blacks during the Revolutionary War, and I've found none on military members. A civilian, Crispus Attucks, was the first man killed in the Boston Massacre, an action that significantly unified the rebels. Blacks served on both sides. On the British side, several hundred Blacks entered the Army in 1775, when the British Royal Governor of Virginia issued a proclamation that slaves, indentured servants and others who would fight for the British would be immediately freed. Enough enlisted to form the Royal Ethiopian Regiment, which apparently did see action, but had the bad fortune to be on the losing side of the war.

During the Civil War, the 54th Massachusetts, was the first formally organized Union Infantry regiment. Although it had ( mostly) white officers, all of the Non commissioned officers and enlisted men were black. All were volunteers; they enlisted in the 54th because they believed in the cause of freedom enough to put their lives on the line. 180,000 other men answered the same call to free their people, and over 37,000 gave their lives for the cause.

The copyright of the article Black History Month in Military is owned by Dennis Morehouse. Permission to republish Black History Month in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.