User:IJXB27/Racial segregation in the United States Armed Forces

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Racial segregation in the United States Armed Forces includes the separation of white and non-white American troops, bans on people of color serving in the military, and restrictions of people of color to supporting roles in the military. Since the American Revolution, each branch of the Armed Forces has implemented different policies surrounding racial segregation. Though Executive Order 9981 officially ended segregation in the Armed Forces in 1948, some forms of racial segregation continued until after the Korean War. The US government prohibited black soldiers from being stationed on the US base in Keflavík, Iceland until the 1970s and 1980s, due to a request from the Icelandic government.

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Continental Army

During the American Revolution, there were varying opinions surrounding the enlistment of Black soldiers in the Continental Army. Though some Black soldiers had already served in colonial militias in the French and Indian War, many whites believed that arming Black soldiers posed a threat to white authority. Despite the famous death of Crispus Attucks in the Boston Massacre in 1770, and Black soldiers earning recognition in the battle of Bunker Hill, the battles of Lexington and Concord, and the battle of Charlestown, whites also maintained that Black people were too savage and incompetent to properly serve. Because of fears of an armed slave insurrection, one of Washington's first acts as Commander in Chief was to sign an order forbidding the recruitment of any Black person, as well as any unmarried, unsettled person who had not been born in the colonies.

This order was short lived. Due to a shortage in manpower, as well as the militaristically advantageous allowances made for Black soldiers by British enemies, Washington relented and allowed Black soldiers to serve in the Continental Army. Freedom was pledged in exchange for the enlistment of enslaved peoples, though this promise was only sometimes fulfilled by masters. Enslaved Black soldiers in the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, the first entirely nonwhite military unit, were freed at the end of the war. In other units, Black soldiers served side by side with whites. One historian commented that the military during this time was more integrated than it would be in later years leading up to the Korean War.

United States Army

After the creation of the Federal Militia Acts of 1792, the Army excluded black men, and, with very few exceptions, the prohibition remained in effect until the second year of the Civil War.

War of 1812

Approximately 1,000,000 black people lived in the United States at the outset of the War of 1812. However, it wasn't until America faced pivotal threats from British veterans returning from conquering Napoleon, that black people were recruited to the American side. In 1814, 2,000 free Black soldiers were trained in New York, and received the same compensation as their white counterparts. Due to exclusion however, the majority of black soldiers either served in the U.S. Navy or defected to the British Royal Navy to gain their freedom.

Civil War

Main article: Military history of African Americans in the American Civil War

The history of African Americans in the Civil War is marked by 186,097 (7,122 officers, 178,975 enlisted) African-American men, comprising 163 units, who served in the Union Army. African Americans also served in the Union Navy, with both free African Americans and fugitives from slavery joining the fight.

On the Confederate side, black soldiers, both free and enslaved, were used for labor. The issue of whether to arm them and under what terms became a major source of debate among Southerners. At the start of the war, a Louisiana Confederate militia unit composed of free black soldiers from the extensive New Orleans Creoles of color was raised, but the Confederacy refused their service. On March 13, 1865, the Confederate Congress enacted a statute to allow the enlistment of African Americans, but few were recruited.

Asian and Pacific Islander troops also served with African-Americans in the United States Colored Troops, and a few served with white troops.

Native Americans, such as General Stand Watie's Confederate Cherokee Battalion, fought in their own tribal regiments or battalions on both sides of the Civil War.

Buffalo Soldiers

[The Buffalo soldiers were established by Congress in 1866 as the first peacetime all-black regiments in the regular U.S. Army.]... They were tasked with guarding settlements on the western frontier; this involved fighting the native people and bandits that frequented and occupied the area. The Buffalo soldiers were paid $13 a month, and maintained some of the lowest desertion rates in the Army.

Spanish-American War

[During the Spanish American War (1898), the Illinois 8th Infantry National Guard was federalized, and made history when its all-African-American officer corps led the unit in the combat zone.]...

Philippine Scouts

In February of 1901, Congress passed a law allowing the Commander-in-chief to recruit members of the Filipino community into Army service. Fifty two companies, all from the same regions of the country, were enlisted to push past enemy lines. The Philippine Scouts were known as highly proficient soldiers with low desertion rates; their regiment lasted until the end of World War II, in which they were compelled to surrender to Japanese troops due to a dearth of resources and numbers.

World War I

African-Americans

The American military was entirely segregated for African Americans during World War I. Despite expressed opposition to military training for black Americans by white supremacist politicians such as Sen. James K. Vardaman (D-MS) and Sen. Benjamin Tillman (D-SC), Congress passed the Selective Service Act in May of 1917. This mandated draft registry included all male citizens over the age of 21. A total of 290,527 black Americans were ultimately registered for the draft. The rate at which black soldiers were drafted-- especially by southern draft boards-- was much higher than that of white soldiers. Though black people made up only 10 percent of the United States population at the time, black soldiers made up roughly 13 percent of those drafted. Draft board officials were instructed to tear off the lower left corner of the Selective Service forms filled out by black registrants to mark these for segregated units.

At the start of World War I, there were four regiments comprised entirely of black soldiers. Two combat units of African-Americans were established: the 92nd and 93rd Infantry Divisions. The August 1917 Houston Riot of armed African-American soldiers, spurred by racist behavior by Houston police officers, additionally shaped the War Department's decision-making, and the great majority of black soldiers were assigned jobs like the building of roads, unloading of shipping, and other forms of common labor.

Including volunteers, 350,000 African-Americans served in the American Expeditionary Force on the western front, with one combat unit, the 369th Infantry "Hell Fighters from Harlem" being awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French allies for their bravery and competence in combat. The 370th Infantry was given the name "The Black Devils" by the Germans and following their pre-war organization in Illinois, were the only American unit to have black officers.

World War II

During World War II, the United States Army established several new segregated units, and maintained several historic segregated units.

African-Americans

When the U.S. entered World War II, The US Army was racially segregated. Despite the service of African American soldiers in every previous American conflict, exclusion and discrimination from the American War Department made it difficult for black soldiers to serve. In 1939, only 3,640 black soldiers were enlisted under white leadership. Led by Rayford W. Logan, head of the Committee for the Participation of Negroes in National Defense, the push for greater black participation and nondiscrimination in the military was reflected in the Selective Service Act of 1940. Members of the NAACP also met with Roosevelt to outline demands for the betterment of black soldiers' conditions in the military. Because of this resistance to the Army's treatment of its black soldiers, military leadership began to attempt to address the issue beginning in 1943, but segregation in the armed forces remained official policy until 1948. Roosevelt's racial quotas limited the black military population to nine percent-- a proportion that the Army never even reached. Furthermore, vast majority of black soldiers were never sent overseas, due to exclusionary requests and discriminatory treatment from foreign governments.

With the exception of 18 female African-American nurses who had served in World War I, the Army Nurse Corps, established in 1901, remained white until 1941, when pressure from the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses, and Eleanor Roosevelt, caused the Army to admit black nurses. A quota of 48 nurses was set, and the women were segregated from white nurses and white soldiers for much of the war. Eventually more black nurses enlisted. They were assigned to care for black soldiers, and served in the China-Burma-India theater, Australia, New Guinea, Liberia, England and the Philippines.

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1950s Desegregation

In 1948, President Truman instated Executive Order 9981, which initiated a political effort toward desegregating the armed forces and other branches of the military. The Army was especially resistant to the order, and only cooperated when a shortage of troops in the Korean War required that black soldiers serve alongside their white counterparts. Though military units were officially desegregated after the Korean War in 1954, racial tensions continued to give rise to segregation and in fighting amongst various units, especially during the Vietnam War. The militaristic inefficiencies caused by this internal conflict incentivized military leaders to seek to establish more harmonious racial relationships in the Army. One scholar argued that, in being forced to actively root out institutional racial tensions, "the military radically revised the moral contract governing relations between it and its members" (402).

The Vietnam War

During the Vietnam War, black soldiers faced two fights: one against discrimination both within the army and civilian life, and the other on the battlefield. Throughout the Vietnam War, African American soldiers were more likely to be drafted, maintained higher casualty rates, and went for the most part unsung and underrepresented in popular culture. Though the army was, by this point, "integrated," black soldiers were relegated to the sidelines of the conflict, despite making some of the most significant sacrifices for it.

United States Air Force

Tuskegee Airmen

Main article: Tuskegee Airmen

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African American military aviators in the United States armed forces. During World War II, African Americans in southern states remained subject to Jim Crow laws. The American military was racially segregated, as was much of the federal government. Though they faced fierce opposition from many members of Congress, The War Department, and the general public, future black pilots began their training in October of 1940. The Tuskegee Airmen were subjected to racial discrimination, both within and outside the army. Despite these adversities, they trained and flew with distinction. All black military pilots who trained in the United States trained at Tuskegee.

It wasn't until April 1 of 1943, that the Tuskegee airmen, also known as the 99th Fighter Squadron, began preparing for departure overseas. Though their white counterparts had been sent overseas after comparably less training (some as little as five weeks), African American pilots had been given extensive instruction on radio communication, radar, combat, night flying, forced marches, and much more.

Although the 477th Bombardment Group "worked up" on North American B-25 Mitchell bombers, they never served in combat. The Tuskegee 332nd Fighter Group was the only operational unit, first sent overseas as part of Operation Torch, then seeing action in Sicily and Italy. They were deployed as bomber escorts in Europe, where they were very successful.

United States Navy

African-Americans

In June 1940 the Navy had 4,007 African-American personnel, representing 2.3 percent of its total strength of nearly 170,000. All of these African Americans were enlisted men, and with the exception of six regular-rated seamen, all were steward's mates. They were characterized by the black press as "seagoing bellhops." Within a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the number of African Americans in the Navy had increased to 5,026; however, they were still restricted to working as steward's mates. One exception was the black navy bandmaster Alton Augustus Adams, who was recalled to active duty after Pearl Harbor along with eight other black musicians and sent to Guantanamo Bay, creating the Navy's first racially integrated ensemble.

The destroyer-escort USS Mason was the only Navy vessel in World War II with an entirely black crew who were not cooks or waiters. In 1995, 11 surviving crew members were all given belated recognition and letters of commendation from Navy Secretary John Dalton for having braved harsh weather and quickly welding the cracks in their ship so they could continue escorting support ships to England.

The Navy did not allow women of color until January 25, 1945. The first African-American woman sworn into the Navy was Phyllis Mae Dailey, a nurse and Columbia University student from New York. She was the first of only four African American women to serve in the navy during World War II.

Publicity surrounding the Port Chicago disaster on July 17, 1944 and the ensuing mutiny convictions of 50 black sailors spotlighted racism in the Navy and was a major impetus for Circular Order 48-46, published on February 27, 1946, which desegregated the Navy.

African American Seabees

In February 1942 CNO Admiral Harold Rainsford Stark recommended African Americans for ratings in the construction trades. In April the Navy announced it would enlist African Americans in the first segregated construction battalions (or "CBs"). There were only two regular CBs (better known as "Seabees") that were entirely segregated units: the 34th and 80th NCBs. Both units enlisted white Southern officers and black sailors. Both battalions experienced problems with this arrangement which led to the replacement of the officers.

The Navy had a huge need for cargo handlers. The lack of stevedores for unloading ships in combat zones was creating a problem. On 18 September 1942 authorization was granted for the formation of a different type of CB denoted by the tag "Special" for cargo handling. The Navy created 17 Special and two regular CBs, all of which had white officers. Over 14,000 African American military personnel were enlisted in these units over the course of World War II. By the end of the war, 41 Special Construction Battalions were commissioned, 15 of which remained segregated. The Special CBs later became the first fully integrated units in the U.S. Navy. The war's end brought the decommissioning of every one of these units.

The Seabees carried out important infrastructural work overseas on behalf of the Navy. This included the construction of roads, housing, storage units, airfields, and bridges. They also fought alongside Army troops. Of particular note were the actions of the 17th Special at Peleliu 15–18 September 1944. On D-day, the 7th Marines found themselves outnumbered and unable to get their wounded to safety. 2 segregated companies of the 16 Marine Field Depot and 17th Special Seabee came to their aid. The Japanese mounted a counter-attack at 0200 hours on D-day night. By the time it was over nearly the entire 17th had volunteered to hump ammunition to the front lines on the stretchers they had used to save the wounded. They also volunteered to supplement the lack of troops to man the lines. The 17th remained with the 7th Marines until the right flank had been secured. Half of the 200 African American Seabees which aided in this battle became casualties during the first week of combat. According to the Military History Encyclopedia on the Web, were it not for the "Black Marine shore party personnel" the counterattack on the 7th Marines would not have been repulsed.

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