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For as long as man has been alive he has waged war against his enemies for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, in war it is not the politicians or the bureaucrats that fight but the lowly soldier. The soldier is a diverse tool that is a necessity to combat even in the most technologically advanced armies. The men and women who make up these armies have varied over the ages, based on the then, sociological beliefs of who the best fighters would be, based on social views, economics, and physical ability. Three different wars have been selected to show the changing attitudes of race in the military. The Revolutionary War The Revolutionary War was a key point in the history of American, and of racism.
The Revolutionary War was fought over the independence of the American Colonies, and started in the year 1770, and lasted until 1783. It was fought primarily between the colonist of American, and the British. The goal of the colonist was to gain independence from the British, and form their own country. It was during this war, that many blacks, both slave and free, saw the opportunity to finally get ahead. Blacks saw the end of this war as though it would be an end to slavery, however, they were split on whose side to fight for. On one hand, there was the well-known desire of Thomas Jefferson to end slavery when the nation of America had gained independence and was officially formed.
Whereas on the other, many blacks felt that siding with the promises of freedom that the British had gave, would guarantee and end. Originally, blacks had trouble joining the Continental Army. George Washington forbid the enlistment of blacks, slave or free, into the ranks of the Continental Army due to personal reasons. It wasnt until military intelligence was recovered by the continental army, that showed that the one of the British leaders, John Murray, was not only recruiting blacks into his army, but offering them freedom in exchange for their service to the King of England, that Washington changed his decision of blacks in the army.
It was only upon learning of this and realizing the need to enlist blacks, not so much because he sought to give them equal opportunities to fight, but to prevent the British from increasing their military might. In terms of actual ranks, many black soldiers marched side by side with white soldiers. There were a few all-black units. For the most part however, free blacks shared the same wages as their white counterparts, and those who were slaves, gave their wages to their owners, and were promised emancipation at the end of the war. As the war went on, the need for more manpower and soldiers became apparent, and many slave owners, rather then entering the war themselves, found it easier and safer to simply offer their slaves as substitutions. One soldier, Thomas Ken, urged the state of Massachuset to use blacks in segregated units, for the same reason that slave owners sent out slaves in place of them.
It would be safer for the white soldiers if they did not have to endure war, and left blacks to do the fighting. However, this proposal was rejected. Racism in the Revolutionary War was seen by many blacks as an opportunity to finally be granted freedom and equality. During the war, they were given equal wages, or promised freedom, and fought side by side in intermixed units. However, discrimination was still apparent. Blacks were banned from enlistment until a need for extra soldiers was seen, and even so, all-black units were formed, and were often sent into battles first, suffering the most loses.
World War II During the years from 1942 to 1945 male inductees were becoming scarce as the war waged on in Europe and in the Pacific. Although all of the military branches were made up of primarily white males, minority groups played a very vital role to the success of the allied forces. When selective service was put into effect more than 8 million Americans were inducted into various branches of the military. One million of those inductees were classified as Negro. Although all other minorities were present during the war blacks made up the largest minority group, grossing in about 10 % of all enlisted service men. (Minority) Even through dedicated service and the sacrifice of life, discrimination was found even in the face of death. The majority of the black inductees ended up in segregated infantry divisions and on the front lines.
They were primarily excluded from the more glorious of military positions such as naval service, the air force, and special tactical forces. The few that did make it into such positions, such as cooks and maintnece, had to fight for their honor and undergo brutal hostility from the very men that were going to be next to them in battle. One such example is of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen. The Tuskegee Airmen were a small group of African-American pilots. They are today considered to have been some of the finest pilots during the war. Responsible for over a 1, 000 German pilot deaths, they underwent a training that no other American pilot could undergo.
After constant pressure from the black community, the government started the first set of aviation courses for blacks. With white instructors, the trainees underwent harsh hazing and humiliation. However they did succeed in creating the first African-American flight school. Their accomplishments in the air force saved many soldiers lives and aided in the crippling of German supply lines. They also ironically escorted white pilots across enemy lines. (Tuskegee) Other minorities played important roles during the American offensive as well. One group in particular, although small, could be considered one of the most important groups in the entire Pacific theatre.
Navajo Indians, with their unique language, were of great importance in sending and receiving vital encoded messages. The Japanese having nothing to compare it to were never able to crack the Navajo language. Being as they were speaking in their own language translation was quick and simple, as compared to encoding machines which took approximately 30 minutes to decode a 3 line message. The code was not just plainly Navajo though, they would translate each word into English and then take the first letter of each word to spell out the sentence. (Molnar) The Navajo code talkers, also know as wind talkers, were very well protected, each having been assigned several body guards to prevent the translators death or capture. The Navajo soldiers were the best treated soldiers in the marines because of their importance. (Molnar) However still through the light of social times, minorities were still treated with much disgust in the army. To prevent problems of racism, and hatred during combat, the units were segregated.
Typically minority groups received the less glamorous tasks because of the typical stereo types of minorities being lazy, incompetent, or just not capable of performing a task equal to that of white soldier. The Vietnam War Vietnam was unique in that it was the first war in which the troops werent segregated by color. It also saw the largest number of blacks serving in an American war. In fact, a higher number of blacks served in the war than were represented in the entire U.
S. population. This led too many struggles at home, especially because Nam was taking place simultaneously with the civil rights movement. Many black advocated claimed that blacks were being specifically target by the draft and recruitment agencies. They also claimed that blacks saw a disproportionate amount of front line assignments. Despite the African Americans claim that blacks were unfairly drafted in larger numbers, this seems to be a false accusation of the American government.
The way the draft is set up does target those people who are of the lower class. This therefore includes a higher number of blacks than it would of whites. Middle class families have the advantage of sending their children to university to avoid being selected for the draft. Since most black families and lower class whites couldnt afford this option they were the ones that were being selected for the draft.
Civil rights advocates at home such as Martin Luther King were feeding the masses lines such as, its a white mans war, but a black mans fight. These words only added fuel to an already raging fire at home. In Vietnam however there was a very different view about the race of the war. Though thousands of miles away the civil rights movement was taking place, on the battle front in Vietnam race came last in the list of priorities people took to heart.
The main priority on most soldiers mind was staying alive. Everyone had to learn to live together, and it was at this point that the units really became mixed. Though there were many white soldiers who were still blatant...
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