I hope to pose and answer six questions in African-American military history:
-
1. How does African-American military history reflect both discrimination and the often heroic struggle to overcome discrimination?
-
2. Has the military been ahead or behind the rest of society as far as equal opportunity is concerned?
-
3. How accurate is the scholarship in this field?
-
4. What were the key periods of progress in African-American military history?
-
5. Who were the key figures in African-American military history?
-
6. What role did whites, particularly United States Presidents, play in African-American military history?
My plan is to begin with a brief discussion of my sources for this unit. A historical essay which addresses the first four questions will follow. The unit will answer the last two questions with ten one-page handouts titled as follows:
African-Americans and the Military: The Revolutionary War
African-Americans and the Military: The Civil War
-
African-Americans and the Military: World War One
-
African-Americans and the Military: World War Two
-
African-Americans and the Military: Vietnam and the Post-Vietnam Period
-
African-American Military Heroes: Clifford Alexander and Colin Powell
-
African-Americans and the Military: The Case of Henry Flipper
-
African-Americans and the Military: The 1906 Brownsville Riot and the 1917 Houston Shoot-out
-
African-American Military Heroes: Benjamin Davis, Sr., Benjamin Davis, Jr., and the Tuskegee Airmen
-
African-Americans and the Military: The Role of White Supporters
