Race Discrimination and The World War I

The war experience gave about one million blacks the opportunity to fight racism in Europe and Asia, a fact that black veterans would remember during the struggle against racism at home after the war. Perhaps just as important, almost ten times that many white Americans witnessed the patriotic service of black Americans. Many of them would object to the continued denial of civil rights to the men and women beside whom they had fought. After World War II the momentum for racial change continued. Black soldiers returned home with determination to have full civil rights.

African Americans were very questionable at first in the Civil War. The Union Navy had been already been accepting African American volunteers. Frederick Douglass thought that the military would help the African Americans have equal rights if they fought with them. Many children helped in the Civil War also, no matter how old they were. Because the African Americans were unfavorable, black units were not used in combat as they might have been.

The Blacks in the Civil War For the beginning, in the middle and in the ending of the Civil War in the United States, the Black Americans were central as soldier and civilian. At first, people tried hard to get around this fact. Even President Abraham Lincoln administration sent Black volunteers home with an understanding that the war was a ''White man's war". The policy was eventually changed not because of humanitarianism but because of the Confederation's battlefield brilliance. The South brought the North to a realization that it was in a real brawl that it needed all the weapons it could lay hands on.

World War I represented a turning point in black American history. It, presented an opportunity to improve race relations at home despite the fighting abroad. How could you be racist against people whom are fighting to stabilize your freedom and the freedom of others was the mentality in the minds of black soldiers. Page 2 Although World War I represented a turning point in American history it was evident racial relations would be and issue at home and abroad. When American troops began arriving on the western front one of the first to arrive on New Years Day in 1918 was the 369th (Harlem Hell Fighters).

African Americans joined and fought willingly (Doc B) and bravely now that they had a cause to fight for—the removing of slavery. More than thirty-eight thousand died in war for the Union, suffering in the Fort Pillow Massacre and serving in units such as the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts regiments and other black military units. Due to prejudice and ideas, the Confederacy did not enlist slaves into the army until the war was nearly over; confederate slaves worked on farms while white men joined the army. The novel idea of African Americans engaged in the war, marching and fighting for the Union, changed many whites’ view and treatment of blacks. ... ... middle of paper ... ...rstand God’s words (Doc E).

The first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, said: "The nation cannot expect the colored people to feel that the U.S. is worth defending if they continue to be treated as they are treated now” (“Turning”). This was important because the African Americans were being deprived of their civil rights, yet they still supported The United States during the war. With the draft, many blacks were able to enlist and bring themselves out of poverty. The draft amplified the amount of African Americans present in the military, and with the war worsening the segregation of the troops began to diminish. The desegregation occurred due to the difficulty to keep the troops separated when they were both being destroyed.

They were inferior. Many thought that if Blacks could fight in the war it would make them equal to whites and prove the theory of slavery was wrong. Even though Black soldiers had to face much discrimination during the Civil War, they were willing to fight to the death for their freedom. In the movie “Glory“ the director focused on the African Americans in the north that fought in the 54th regiment led by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. During the time of the Civil War, the African Americans that fought in the 54th regiment were often treated unfairly but there were always nice people that backed them up.

Slavery was completly crushed with the 13TH Amendment. Black soldiers lead a celebration among South Carolina slaves for the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. For decades after the Civil War, African-Americans made it a folkway to celebrate Emancipation Day.The decision to use the blacks as soldiers was by no means universally popular and was also selfishly motivated. During the war, many whites believed that blacks would make poor soldiers. Some whites stated that they would run at the first sign of danger!

World War I and World War II both had significant social, economic, and political impacts on the lives of African Americans and brought enormous change within American society. Many African Americans viewed the war as an opportunity to fight for their country in exchange for equal citizenship rights at home. Unfortunately this was achieved through neither WWI nor WWII despite the irony of the US fighting a war for democracy abroad when discrimination existed on the home front. The central themes explored in which African American lives have been touched by the World wars are migration, military segregation, racial violence and political power. It is evident that although WWI and WWII did not amount to the momentous leap forward that African Americans desired in the pre-war years, the events undoubtedly had profound impacts on the lives of African Americans and ultimately paved the way for the Civil rights movement.

Although the Vietnam War draft was thought by many Americans to be an unfair system all together, it was especially corrupt and unfair towards minorities and the poor as a result of racial discrimination, biased frontline placement of soldiers, and unfair draft-escape methods used by the more wealthy Americans. Throughout history African Americans have served in every U.S waged war, dating back to the civil war, and up until modern day wars. The African American fighting force has massively contributed in all of these wars, however up until the Vietnam blacks remained in segregated units that were usually commanded by white officers. Even with the gains of the Civil rights movement, Jim Crow segregation had been and still was a part of every aspect of American society since the 1890s, and the military was no exception. “When black men volunteered for duty or were drafted following the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, they were assigned to segregated divisions and combat support roles, such as cook, quartermaster and grave-digging duty.