November 10, 2025 • 45 mins
Black soldiers have fought in every American war. They have, by their own admission, fought for a country that didn't fight for them.
This Veterans Day, we look at the history of Black military service — and the paradox of Black patriotism.
Click here to support Marie's work and catch up on all the new members-only episodes, which are released weekly.
Oh, and here is Marie's article she mentioned, and here is the 2021 study on black patriotism.
This Veterans Day, we look at the history of Black military service — and the paradox of Black patriotism.
Click here to support Marie's work and catch up on all the new members-only episodes, which are released weekly.
Oh, and here is Marie's article she mentioned, and here is the 2021 study on black patriotism.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Clearly, the black soldiers were not in blind support of
the United States and everything that it does, but they
saw military service as a means for making a change.
Hello and welcome back. I'm your host, Marie Beacham, and
for today's Veterans Day special, we will be talking about
(00:21):
black veterans and black patriotism. These are two things that
you might not know about that would be good to
know about, and I'm going to use Veterans Day as
an excuse to teach you about them. You might not
even know what I mean by black patriotism, don't worry.
We'll get there. And you might not be familiar with
the history of black military service in the United States,
(00:46):
but it's a rich history and a tangled history, and
so we're going to fuse these two things together. Here's
where we're going. First, a quick note on black patriotism
and why I think every American something to learn from
black patriotism. Then I'm going to boom boom boom, run
through some history of famous distinguished black veterans from various wars,
(01:11):
and then we're gonna hone in some more on this
idea of black patriotism and what patriotism has meant to
Black people throughout history and how our modern sensibilities that
kind of shirk off patriotism and we go, ah, that
looks a lot like nationalism, and I want nothing to
do with that. Black Americans throughout history had a very
(01:32):
different intuition. That's what we'll be talking about. This feels
like a tried and true classic episode of the podcast,
full of research and tidbits and insights and dicey opinions.
So it's all the things we love now. As for
the topic of black patriotism, last year, I had the
(01:53):
privilege of researching black patriotism and assisting in a project
that I believe is still forthcoming, and it was a
fascinating project. I got to work under a brilliant man
who would laugh out loud at me calling him brilliant,
and we both learned a lot throughout the process of research. Now,
I'm not going to be consulting that research or infringing
(02:15):
on that project at all, But working on that project
a year and a half ago opened my eyes to
black patriotism because it was first brought to me and
in the subject's line was black patriotism, and I was like, huh,
now that's interesting sounds pretty niche, like are we talking
about black rednecks or something? But I was flat out wrong.
(02:40):
There's nothing niche about black people being patriotic because something
very different is meant by black patriotism. That's kind of
what the whole project broke open for me. So many
people today, are progressives today, think of patriotism as just
like ugly heavy handed nationalism, and it makes us WinCE.
(03:02):
And that's because we're thinking of this blind faith in
the American project, and we don't think that blind faith,
blind support is a good thing. But as you research
black patriotism and you do case studies of people throughout history,
and you also look at the research on black patriotism,
which we'll get to at the end, you find, Oh,
(03:23):
for a black person who black identity matters to them
and it's central to their overall identity, and being a
person in America matters to them, they don't have the
option of the blind faith, nationalistic yucky stuff. They have
to piece together some sort of complexity, the complexity of
(03:44):
being black and concerned with the history of oppression and
also being American and concerned with where we can take things,
how we can move forward into the future. And so
that's why I think black patriotism is such an interesting subject,
because it's patriot generally speaking, done well. It's patriotism believing
in America, not as it is, but as it ought
(04:06):
to be. And I know I kind of talk about
that every fourth of July. I bring up James Baldwin,
I bring up MLK, and I try to implore people
to obviously reject flat blind patriotism, but also to not
get rid of patriotism altogether, because I don't think that
we should just leave patriotism in the hands of people
(04:26):
who are unthinking, because patriotism, at its core, I say
this every fourth of July is being deeply invested in
your country and involving yourself in its politics, involving yourself
in its communities, trying to be a part taker in
the whole thing of shaping what the country is and
what we hope it can be. And if that's what
(04:49):
it means to be a patriot, then I think black
people have been the archetype of patriotism in America. And
I also think that anyone who considers themselves progressive or
or socially conscious or anything should also see the importance
of getting involved in that project too, So I know
it's kind of a weird take telling you to be patriotic.
But one thing that really stuck with me is when
(05:12):
I was doing the research project a year and a
half ago and I was talking to the person leading
the research. He said something to me that has stuck
with me. And I won't say it half as well,
but he was essentially saying black people are the first
and best patriots. He's like, as far as you know
the patriotism that I'm concerned with, the good kind of patriotism,
(05:34):
conscious patriotism. And he was like, because if it weren't
for black people's contributions in progressing America forward, if it
weren't for black people fighting for abolition, and if it
weren't for black people ending segregation and working toward integration
and leading the civil rights movement and doing all of
(05:55):
these things to objectively better America, if black people weren't
such conscious patriots, if they didn't get so invested in
this country and work their tails off to make a
change despite all of the oppression, all of the obstacles,
all of the barriers, then the America we'd be left
with today is one I wouldn't want to live in
He's like, I'm a guy who wants equality, I want freedom,
(06:17):
I want justice, And if it weren't for Black Americans
making justice and equality more of a reality, we'd live
in a terribly unjust, segregated, awful society today. And so
when we think about all the good things about society,
we have Black Americans to think for it. And my
jaw dropped because I've always heard the American story told
(06:38):
in a way where it's like, black people are the
ones who have been acted upon. Black people were the
ones who were enslaved until they were freed, and black
people were the ones who were discriminated against and victims
of prejudice until white people change their mind. And I
understand that telling because the oppressors are the ones with
the power, and there's truth in that town, because the
(07:01):
people in power are the ones with the agency and
the decision making power and all of that. I get that,
But I thought it was so powerful to hear about
this man whose perspective is like reverential awe for our
black forefathers who have made America really what it is.
And you might even say, ah, well, can you really
give them credit for that. Of course they wanted to
(07:21):
change that, but that's kind of because they were the victims.
So that's why they worked so hard to turn the tables.
And I think that there's an alternate reality in which
black people went the rout of Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X.
And there's this whole back to Africa movement within Black America,
people who said, you know what, America is irredeemable, and
I think our best hope is to get out of here.
(07:44):
And that could have played out and then America would
have been left as whatever the heck it is, and
it would have been awful. African Americans would have left
America and sought refuge elsewhere, and that could have happened,
but it didn't. Black Americans stayed, Black Americans fought, Black
Americans advocated, and it is Black American patriotism that we
have to think. And with that said, I think this
(08:05):
is a perfect opportunity to talk about the history of
black military service. I think that black veterans break our
categories they confound us, especially when we're talking about in
the earliest wars and the idea that black veterans were
willing to fight for a country that wasn't willing to
fight for them. We look at that and we just
(08:27):
go why. After I talk through some of these facts
about the pivotal role that black people have played in
the military and how black military service moved the needle
on racial progress and justice overall, will come to find
that black Americans fully understood the injustices that they were
(08:50):
dealing with, and yet fully committed and decided to enlist
in the military, fight in the wars, and part take
in the legacy of the US of A. For starters,
I think it's really interesting. I found this from the NAACP.
There has been no war fought within the United States
(09:13):
or fought by the United States in which black people
did not participate. This includes the Revolutionary War, the Civil War,
the War of eighteen twelve, the Spanish American War, World
War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War,
and the Golf Wars. On terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(09:36):
Black people have participated in every single war that the
United States has participated in. I also want to say
that today, I believe the military is one of the
most diverse employers there are. I think the military has
a lot more diversity than like Apple or Google. My
point is, in some ways, military service has always presented
(09:57):
itself as this great equalizer, before equal rights were afforded
to all people. Somehow, some way, black people could enlist
in the military and literally put on the same uniform
and get to the same work that white people, as
specifically white men, could also do. There weren't many other
lines of work where that was the case. A black
(10:20):
person's uniform would never be a white person's uniform, because
a black person's job was in no way a white
person's job. But the military was an exception. And even now,
the military presents itself as an option for black men
and women to get their education paid for, to get
guaranteed work, and for people of all races of course,
(10:40):
and it draws in diverse candidates, and that way, it
still kind of serves as this equalizer. And that's not
to say that the US military is perfect today. As
far as DEI goes Pete egg Set, the current Secretary
of Defense, I think he's made a series of decisions
that are downright discriminatory. He's slash d e. He's made
(11:01):
it a thing to as he calls it, reverse the
wave of wokeness that he thinks corrupted and undermined the
US military, and sadly, I believe he discriminated against many
qualified military officials, assuming that they were underqualified because of
their race. I wrote an article about that recently. I'll
have that linked in the show notes. But that's just
(11:22):
to say I'm under no illusions. When I say the
great equalizer, I don't mean the greatest of equalizers. I
just mean an equalizer. Now we're going to talk about
three wars, the Civil War, World War One, and World
War Two, and talk about the importance of black people's contributions. Now,
starting with the Civil War, A major player in urging
black people to enlist in the Union Army was Frederick Douglas.
(11:46):
In his autobiography The Life and Times of Frederick Douglas,
he writes, I urged every man who could to enlist,
to get an eagle on his button, a musket on
his shoulder, the star spangled banner his head, and there
is no power on earth which can deny that he
has earned the right to citizenship in the United States.
(12:08):
Douglas even toured around the country meeting with black people,
especially black people who were formerly enslaved and saying that
if you enlist, if you become an American soldier, and
you fight for America, you fight for the Union, you
help bring this war to an end, then it won't
just be white people working on our behalf or fighting
(12:29):
on our behalf, or earning us a freedom that then
they feel they also have the right to take away.
He was going around with powerful, compelling speeches compelling black
men to enlist, and in the end, ten percent of
the Union Army was black soldiers. Ten percent is no
small thing. Now, the Union Army in the beginning was
(12:51):
not trying to be big on black soldiers. Abraham Lincoln
and his administration they were still walking this tightrope because
the whole thing with the Civil War is obviously Confederate
states were not heeding Lincoln's authority. Here's how the National
Archives kind of explained the situation. Well, first of all,
there was a law that barred negroes from bearing arms
(13:14):
in the United States Army. That kind of didn't make
sense because black people served in the American Revolution, black
people fought in the War of eighteen twelve. But now
with the Civil War, they were saying, hey, look at
this law. Black people can't serve, so the National Archives
says quote. The Lincoln administration wrestled with the idea of
authorizing the recruitment of black troops, but they were concerned
(13:35):
that such a move would prompt the border states to secede.
When General John C. Fremont in Missouri and General David
Hunter in South Carolina issued proclamations that emancipated slaves in
their military regions and permitted them to enlist, their superiors
sernly revoked their orders, so there was some back and forth. However,
(13:57):
by mid eighteen sixty two, the escalating number of former slaves,
the declining number of white volunteers, and the increasingly pressing
personnel needs of the Union Army pushed the government to
reconsider the ban. So then a bit later, July eighteen
sixty two, Congress passed an act freeing slaves who had
masters in the Confederate Army. Shortly thereafter, slavery was abolished
(14:20):
with the Emancipation Proclamation. And as we all know, because
of June teenth and all of that, there was still
this long delay between slavery being formally abolished and slavery
as a practice actually coming to an end. In the end,
one hundred and seventy nine black men served as soldiers
in the US Army, twenty thousand in the Navy. And
(14:41):
of that whole group, which is about two hundred thousand,
about a fifth of black soldiers died during the course
of the war, so forty thousand Black soldiers, and of
that about thirty thousand of them died of infection or disease. Now,
when you look at black military service in the times
of the Civil War, all so find that there was
(15:01):
prejudice against black people and a big thing that's putting
it lightly obviously a big aspect of the debate for
the Lincoln administration and even people in the Union Army
who thought that black people deserved to not be enslaved.
Didn't actually have faith that black people were competent or capable,
and they didn't actually trust that black people, you know,
could be trusted in combat. And so back in the
(15:24):
Civil War, black units were not used in combat as
extensively as white soldiers. The units were segregated with black
enlisted men and often commanded by white officers and black
non commissioned officers. There were pay disparities which shocks no one,
and there was also a big difference in what would
happen to prisoners of war who were black versus prisoners
(15:46):
of war who were white. You can even go and
find the recruiting posters from the Civil War and find
that some of the promises that the Lincoln administration was
trying to make to attract more black people to enlist
was saying, and we'll find a way to protect you
equally from the torture that you're subjected to or had
it much worse than white prisoners of war. Still, black
(16:07):
people played a significant role, served valiantly and fought despite
lack of freedoms, fought despite prejudice, fought despite discrimination, and
thankfully we know how the story ends. The Union Army prevails.
Fast forward in quite a bit. Let's talk World War
One and World War II. In both World War One
(16:29):
and World War Two, there were black regiments that received
special honors, received acclaim and thankfully we know their history.
So what's really interesting is that in World War One,
one of these black soldiers, Horace Pippin, he struggled a lot,
obviously with the evils of war. Interestingly enough, he kept
this like comic book where he wrote about what he
(16:52):
saw firsthand and he also drew pictures with pencil and
cran So if you want to look that up Horace
pippin World War One Harlem Hell Fighter, that offers an
interesting first hand account. But with World War One, I
already tipped the hat. I want you to know about
the Harlem hell Fighters. This is from history dot com
and I quote. The Harlem Hell Fighters were an African
(17:13):
American infantry unit and World War One who spent more
time at combat than any other American unit. They proved
themselves able and fearless fighters, serving one hundred and ninety
one days on the front, more time and continuous combat
than any other American unit, and get this, never losing
(17:33):
a foot of ground or losing a man as prisoner.
The Harlem Hell Fighters were the three sixty ninth Squadron,
I believe, and their commanding officer, Colonel William Hayward said,
my men never retire. They go forward or they die,
and they did. They never lost a foot of ground
against the Germans. Following World War One, people were able
(17:56):
to see, Oh, this black unit and all black unit
soldiers was able to do a standout job. Ironically, but
kind of unsurprisingly, they never received an honor from the
United States, not for decades, but quote, at the end
(18:17):
of their service, the entire regiment received France's highest military
honor from a grateful French nation. So this unit, the
Harlem hell Fighters, say it with me. The Harlem hell
Fighters received honors, recognition, praise from the nation of France
and then returned home to a segregated, discriminatory United States
(18:39):
of America that gave them nothing, recognized, nothing, not equal pay,
not equal treatment, not freedoms back at home. And that
kind of contributes to why I want to tell their
story and I want us to know their story because
so many black veterans never saw that future that they
were fighting for, but the future that I believe that
(19:01):
they believed in. That's why I think it's so important
that now we listen, now, we pay attention, Now, we
give them the recognition that they're due. And similarly, scooting
on to World War II, if you know your trivia,
I bet you can guess it. And if you don't,
that's okay, we're going to learn. I want to talk
about the Tuskegee Airmen, and I quote, the Tuskegee Airmen
(19:25):
were the first black aviators to serve in the US
Army Air Corps. They broke through a massive segregation barrier
in the American military. Their success and heroism during World
War II fighting Germans in the skies over Europe shattered
pervasive stereotypes that African Americans had neither the character nor
the aptitude for combat, and their achievements laid crucial groundwork
(19:49):
for civil rights progress in the decades to come. So
the Tuskegee Airmen were a big deal. Again, it was
an all black unit of soldiers who were going to
be flying. Technically predates the Air Force, so that's why
it's called the US Army Air Corps. So that's why
they're said to be part of the US Army. But
flying and being part of what we now know is
(20:11):
the Air Force was a very big deal at the time.
So I think it's the twenties, it's the thirties. Pilots
who have made history change the world were like all
the rage, both Charles Lindberg and Amelia Earhart. They were
the biggest celebrities at the time, and being a pilot
flying was something that was reserved for the best of
(20:36):
the best. In nineteen thirty eight, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
said he was going to be expanding this pilot training program.
And in nineteen thirty eight, as we all know, racial
segregation remained the rule in the US armed forces as
well as much of the country. The military establishment, particularly
in the South, believed black soldiers were inferior to whites
(20:58):
and performed poorly in combat. That's from history dot Com. Now,
there was a lot of back and forth about this,
but the US military ultimately landed on, you know what,
let's have an experiment to see if black people can
be trained as combat pilots. So what's interesting is what
we now call the Tuskegee Airmen, where they were originally
(21:19):
called the Tuskegee Experiment, which is not to be confused
with the Tuskegee Experiment where black men syphilis wasn't being treated.
That's usually what we now referred to as the Tuskegee Experiment.
It was a terrible thing of medical malpractice that jeopardized
the lives of Yeah, that was bad, but that's not
this Tuskegee experiment. They called it the experiment because per
(21:43):
the National Park Service, it was an experiment to see
if negroes could be trained as combat pilots. This experiment
served to test out the findings of a nineteen twenty
five War Department study that asserted that quote the Negro
is fundamentally inferior to whites. The study further claimed that
Negroes lacked the intelligence, courage, and physical ability to operate
(22:06):
complicated military equipment such as combat aircraft. So in nineteen
forty one, the first to be trained as participants in
this experiment were mechanics who began their training in Illinois.
Twelve aviation cadets and one student officer, Captain Benjamin O.
Davis Junior, reported to Tuskegee Institute to begin primary flight
(22:27):
training as the first Negro pilot candidates in the US Army.
By November, they had demonstrated the necessary skills, completed the
rigors of training, and were transferred to the Tuskegee Army
Airfield for basic and advanced training courses. Then, in nineteen
forty two, the graduates of this class became the first
African American military pilots, and as the pilot training program expanded,
(22:50):
it eventually included participants from twenty nine states, foreign countries,
seven historically black colleges, and after testimony before Congress by
Captain Benjamin O. Davis Junior. They were given an opportunity
to provide escort cover for white bomber crews to and
from their targets. They performed exceedingly well, to the point
(23:10):
that they began to be requested as bomber escorts by
white bomber pilots. Overall, they had four hundred pilots who
saw combat. They lost about one hundred, with sixty six
dying during combat and thirty three being taken as prisoners
of war. Now it goes without saying that even after
they served and did exceptionally well at their task, disproving
(23:32):
the study which turned their training into an experiment, which
is just like mind boggling to my modern mind, they
still returned home to a segregated United States. For the
three hundred who were able to return home, and during
the time that they served, the military was still segregated,
so they were a completely black unit. But it was
(23:52):
in nineteen forty eight that President Truman issued an executive
order desegregating the military overall. One thing that I think
I think about with the Tuskegee Airmen is the whole
history wasn't as long ago as you think it was.
People will show pictures of Martin Luther King in color
and say, we need to show the pictures of him
in color because we don't realize how recent this was.
(24:14):
Or they talk about, like Anne Frank and Martin Luther
King their lifetimes overlapping and just saying history isn't as
long ago as we think it is. And with the
Tuskegee Airmen, lots of the men who are initially in
this training program, they continued on in their careers in
the Air Force, and they obviously became the first black
this the first black that. But what I think is
(24:35):
so surprising is one of them, Daniel Chappi James Junior,
became the nation's first black for star general in nineteen
seventy five. And to that, I'm just like, nineteen seventy five,
what's that doing in here? Like how are we talking
about nineteen seventy five when we're talking about segregation and
World War two and blah blah blah, like the seventies,
the seventies, But that's how long they stuck with their
(24:57):
military service. Like the same people serving the military in
nineteen seventy five were the people serving in the military
for World War Two, and that also means that the
white people serving the military in nineteen seventy five were
in the all white units in World War Two. Segregation
spanned their career all the way up to the mid
seventies and the late seventies, and just makes me think
(25:19):
about that whole idea that history is not as long
ago as we think it is. Another group worthy of
mention while we're talking about World War Two is the
Six Triple Eights. I have seen that this is a
Netflix film, so maybe you've seen it, in which case, great,
you probably know this already. But the six Triple Eights
were the first all women black postal battalion. They served
(25:40):
in England and they served in France and per the NAACP,
they quote were given the daunting task of clearing out
a two year backlog of over ninety thousand pieces of mail,
and after tremendous sacrifices and enduring many injustices, much to
the amazement of their white officers, they not only succeeded
in their mission, but they completed it in three months
(26:02):
and went on to make a positive impact on racial
integration in the military. So the Six Triple Eights were
black women in the six eight eighty eight squadron or
whatever you call it. That's why they're called six Triple eights.
And their motto famously was no male, no morale. So
they were like, we play an integral role in getting
the male to the people on the front lines so
(26:24):
that we can save their morale and save their their
fighting spirit and know that they're being supported by the
people back home. I can only imagine how low morale
was after being on a two year backlog, two year delay.
So the fact that they caught up that two year
backlog in just three short months, it was just another
thing in showing that these erroneous beliefs that black people
(26:47):
and people of color are inferior do a worse job.
Through excellence, they sent those beliefs tumbling down. Now, one
last thing I want to talk about with World War
Two before we then land the plane at black patriotism
just in general, is during World War two, there was
something called the double V campaign. Have you heard of this?
(27:09):
The Double V campaign. I've heard of this because I
know it was a thing in different black newspapers across
the country. The Pittsburgh Courier newspaper, I believe is the
one who started it, and then different black newspapers kind
of spread the word and I think they'd hold up
a double V like looks like two peace signs. And
what the double V campaign was the idea that we
need a double victory. We need victory overseas and we
(27:31):
need victory at home, victory in the war, and then
victory in these state side issues of discrimination and injustice.
And I quote the campaign highlighted the hypocrisy of fighting
for democracy overseas while African Americans faced segregation, discrimination, and
disenfranchisement in the United States. Its success helped build momentum
(27:55):
for the civil rights movement by demonstrating the contributions of
African Americans to the war effort while also pushing for
full citizenship rights. Now, that double V campaign is a
great segue into what I feel like is the elephant
in the room when we're talking about black veterans, black
military service, and it's that whole idea. I said it already.
(28:16):
Why were black people fighting for a country that wasn't
fighting for them? And I think with our modern sensibilities,
we would even think black people shouldn't serve in the military,
Black people shouldn't have put their lives on the line
for the United States when that's all that they had
ever known, their lives being disposable. But I feel like
(28:38):
the double V campaign brings together the tension. It brings
together the bothhand of black people were under no illusions
about the injustices at home. Black people were not, like
I said, there's no option for blind patriotism, for blind
support of the United States and everything that it does. Clearly,
the black soldiers were not in blind support of the
United States and everything that it does, but they saw
(28:58):
military service as a means for making a change. I
want to read from some black historical figures in their
own words about how they saw black military service advancing
racial progress, racial justice, and making small gains for black
people to be seen on equal footing. So in July
(29:23):
nineteen eighteen, this is all from the NAACP, an editorial
for the NAACP's Crisis magazine. It was written by WP Dubois,
whose ancestors had fought in the American Revolution, and he
echoed Frederick Douglas in his belief that World War One
offered the black soldier an opportunity to gain his stripes.
(29:43):
Many black soldiers gave their all to the war, some
winning medals for their bravery, even as the lynching did
not stop and the schools, bathrooms, and drinking fountains remained segregated.
So Dubois and Douglas both believing that the black soldier
had this opportunity to gain his stripes for all black peple. Similarly,
in nineteen seventeen, Charles Hamilton Houston entered World War One
(30:06):
as a commissioned first lieutenant in a segregated training squadron,
and he fought for the United States despite all of
the racism, all of a discrimination. He was in a
segregated training regiment, and it was while he was overseas
and in the military he encountered racism worse than he
had ever known. He later wrote, quote, the hate and
(30:28):
scorn showered on us Negro officers by our fellow Americans
convinced me that there was no sense in my dying
for a world ruled by them. I made up my
mind that if I got through this war, I would
study law and use my time fighting for who could
not strike back. So even in that, I find that
(30:50):
really interesting that instead of saying we experienced such hate,
what am I doing? Serving this same country. What am
I doing serving in the same military as these terribly
racist people. He didn't say, what am I doing here?
I should back out of military service. I should make
a swift exit, which is what I would. That's how
(31:11):
I expected that quote to go. There's no sense in
dying for them and their military and their country. But
in studies, has no sense in my dying for a
world ruled by them. And then he doubles down in
his commitment to get through the war, to study law,
and to fight for racial progress. I find that so fascinating.
I'm always like eyes wide open whenever I encounter perspectives
(31:35):
from Black Americans throughout history who just view their role
in advancing racial progress so differently than my current inclinations.
One more quote here is from Alan Locke, the first
black Rhodes scholar, and he wrote about quote a new
Negro who had returned from battle with a bold new
(31:56):
spirit that helped spark a new mood in the black community.
Blacks were willing to settle for nothing less than equal rights,
human treatment, and active involvement in politics, business, and the arts. Again,
this is insightful, this is eye opening, This makes sense
of the paradox of how were black people willing to
(32:18):
fight for a country that wasn't willing to fight for them.
I wanted to read it from people's own words, from pastimes,
because I don't even feel I can articulate it well enough.
Today we view this as a paradox being black and
being patriotic, being black and being like for America. And
I'm not saying this as like I have this be
and my bonnet, guys, and I think we need to
(32:38):
be more pro America. We're not pro America enough. That's
not what I mean by black patriotism. What I mean
is that in generations past and in times past, black
people saw themselves as patriotic, and they saw themselves as
deeply invested in America, deeply invested in the American project,
and they saw things like taking up the military service
(33:01):
as a way to do the necessary work of demonstrating
that they are worthy of equal treatments, They're worthy of
wearing the same uniforms, they are worthy of the same honors,
and they're worthy of eventually equal rights. I think it's
tremendous that they would fight knowing that they might not
see the fruit of what they were fighting for they
(33:24):
were fighting on behalf of their descendants. They were fighting
in the hope that there would someday be somebody who
would see the ultimate end. And like I said, I'm
frustrated that I can't even put it to words well enough,
because I think it's so commendable, and I, as a
black person in America today, feel that I owe my
(33:47):
thanks to the black people who came before me. And yeah,
we think of activists and that's incredible, but I don't
think that activism was purely holding up post and marching
in the streets. It was that, but it was also
more than that. It was that black people had been
inserting themselves in these white spaces, white territories, already and
(34:10):
already proving themselves, already earning respect that white people were
only giving but grudgingly. White Americans didn't want to serve
alongside Black Americans in the military, but Black Americans were needed,
and they proved themselves, and they demonstrated their competency, they
demonstrated their equality, they disproved the studies that said that
(34:31):
they couldn't do it. The same thing was true across
a number of industries, and it was that just general
life work whether it's military jobs or civilian jobs, where
black people were proving themselves and giving that foundation that
basis that then when activists come forward in the civil
rights movement and say we deserve equal rights, they're kind
(34:54):
of pointing back to because you know, we are equally capable.
You know, we are of equal character. You know we
are of equal in every way. We're doing what you do.
We're doing it just as well as you have to
know that we're not a different and lesser species. You
know this, We've proven this, and even so much of
the justification of discrimination was well, sure, black people they
(35:17):
might also be human in the way that white people
are human, but because of their history, you know, because
of slavery, because they're not educated, they can't catch up
with us. They can't keep up with us. That's why
you know, they're not afforded equal rights in every way.
It's because they haven't advanced to that point. You know,
they're a little behind us because we were enslaving them.
(35:37):
And so that's why, again it was so important that
black people were able to prove their abilities and prove
that the time was now for equal rights, the time
was now for equality of everything, and as I say this,
a big thing that a lot of people don't like
is something called respectability politics. Respectability politics is a term
(35:58):
that means basically, like a marginalized person is doing something
to earn the respect of a majority group, but that
something that they're doing to earn their respect in the
majority group is unfortunate. They shouldn't have to play the game.
So respectability politics, you could say, is like code switching
or having to dress like white people, talk like white people,
(36:19):
match to the majority culture. This isn't just for black people,
this is for people of any group. It's basically like
giving up a piece of yourself in order to play
the game, or working really really hard to earn respect
and opportunities that really should just be freely given but
they aren't. So as I'm saying all of this about
black military service, some of you might be thinking, Ah, sure,
(36:42):
that's great, but you know that's just respectability politics, and
respectability politics is unfortunate, which I agree with. I'm not
going to say respectability politics is a good thing, but
I don't think that accusing black veterans, black people in
any lifeane of like, oh, it's just too bad that
they had to play into respectability politics should in any
(37:05):
way take away from their actions or what they did.
We can grieve respectability politics and that they had to
go to those lengths to demand respect. But even in
calling something respectability politics, I don't like how, you know,
people will say MLK, they'll accuse him of respectability politics
because of how he talked and how he got a
(37:25):
you know, doctorate and systemic theology, and how he always
wore a suit, and how this and this and that,
and they're basically like he was just trying to assimilate
to white culture, to which I say, there were certainly
ways that he had to pander to white people, or
that he had to work upstream go uphill, and that's unfortunate.
But you can't diminish what he did because to you
(37:48):
it looks like assimilation, or to you it looks like compromise.
Even if assimilation was necessary, the blame or like our
frustration today, shouldn't be directed at the black people who
were doing that to demand respect, even if something would
be respectability politics. I think you can understand what I
mean when I say the blame should be directed at
(38:10):
the white majority who had this litmus test in these
things that needed to be passed in order for black
people to achieve racial progress. Does that make sense? And
so all that to say, black veterans serving in the military,
I wouldn't feel comfortable being like ah in this respectability politics. No,
I'd be like, Wow, we should applaud their efforts period
(38:33):
full stop. Now, one last thing I want to say
on all this is I want to circle back to
black patriotism. There's a study on black patriotism from twenty
twenty one by Mike E. Johnson called the Paradox of
Black Patriotism. And in this study, he is talking to
all of these different Black Americans in the year twenty
twenty one, and he's trying to make sense of how
(38:54):
they wrestle with black identity and American identity. And he
creates this framework that organizes the different ways that black
people balance those things. Because there's a whole diversity of views.
All black people have some range of identifying with being
black and or American. For some people, race is less salient,
(39:15):
for others, it's very salient. For some people. American identity
is less salient, for others, it's very salient. And he
creates this profile of different people who you know, see
things differently, and I want to focus on the profiles
for the two people who feel that their black identity
is very important. First, you have the subverter. This is
(39:36):
the profile that describes people who are very aware and
connected to social inequities, any injustices concerning the black communities.
They're very conscious of being black. But these are the
people who are detached from America. They are typically attached
to an alternative homeland such as Africa, Caribbean countries, or
a metaphorical nation. Many black people say, I've got nothing
(39:59):
tow do with America, but black people, that's a nation
within a nation. That's the nation I'm connected to. Forget
American society overall. So this profile, and I'm reading this
from the study, the subverter typically advocates for radical change
in American society. They may embrace a wide range of philosophies, communities,
and movements such as black liberation, theology, black power, black nationalism,
(40:23):
the Nation of Islam, and many others. Minister Lewis Farakhan,
he was the leader of the Nation of Islam. He
embodies the subverter profile. Malcolm X kind of worshiped Lewis
Farakhan before his late in life conversion away from the
Nation of Islam, and so he also fits this profile.
These black Americans feel very black and very not American.
(40:47):
He says, some countered white supremacy by adopting a black
supremacist ideology. That's like black nationalism, Nation of Islam. They
will tell you they have a black supremacist ideology. They
are highly critical and reject notions of a American benevolence
or progress. He also gives profiles of people who he's
spoken to who embody this subverter profile. That's just to
(41:08):
show you one end of the spectrum. But the other
profile I want to highlight is the conscious patriot. This
is kind of what I've been advocating throughout this episode.
This is what I think a black veteran is. By definition.
His example is not Lewis Fara connor Malcolm X, but
for this one is Martin Luther King Junior, who we
all know that I adore. And here's how he describes
(41:30):
the conscious patriot, which, by the way, I just want
you to have in mind. I think he describes the
conscious patriot saying, many black people negotiate the double consciousness
of being both black and American by constructing identities that
create a different kind of patriotism. They are connected to
(41:51):
both America as a homeland and the realities of black
oppression in America. These individuals, called conscious patriots, are keenly
aware of social inequalities and actively critique what they deem
to be a society characterized by historical and systemic social inequalities.
Doctor Martin Luther King Junior, who was attached to both
nation as well as race, personifies the conscious patriot profile,
(42:15):
and in the study, he says, from this perspective, all
true Americans must embrace conscious brands of patriotism that require
active dissent because it is their heritage and duty to
directly combat social inequalities. I relate. I am a self
professed conscious patriot, and I honestly think maybe you should
(42:37):
be too. I definitely empathize and sympathize with the black
people who are subverters, who identify with being black and
kind of reject being American because they despair of all
that America has been and they doubt what America could be.
But I fully believe that patriotism and feeling deeply engaged
in American society deeply engaged in our community. He's deeply
(43:00):
engaged in all that we know and fighting for something better.
When we look back at history just one hundred years,
two hundred years, the progress that we've made Black Americans,
black conscious patriots has been tremendous, and I don't see
why that wouldn't continue, and may be a little naive
I could see why. However, I think black conscious patriots
(43:22):
have overcome and will overcome again. I think that conscious
patriotism has triumphed. That's how we've made so much progress
in just a few generations. And really, what I hope
you take away from this episode is, yes, you'll remember
the Tuskegee Airman and the six Triple Eights and the
Harlem hell Fighters, But really, I hope you think deeply
(43:44):
about black patriotism because I'm of the conviction that if
more people were patriotic in the way that black people
are patriotic, where we don't have the option of blind support,
blindly backing everything America's ever done, we can't help but
have this critical conscious view, and yet we persist, and
(44:06):
yet we endure, and yet we work for change. If
more people were patriotic in that way, we'd have something really,
really good on our hands. That's what I hope you'll
be thinking about this veteran's day. This episode I decided
to release for everyone. If you're not a paid supporter
and a member, then that means that there are a
lot of podcast episodes you don't have access to, hundreds
(44:28):
of essays you don't have access to, And if you
enjoy my work, if you enjoy this learning, I think
you'd love all of the perks that come with membership.
The link to join is in the show notes. I
completely depend on the support of a small, small group
of people, and I am so grateful for everyone who
(44:50):
backs this mission and believes in it. If that's you,
I thank you kindly, Thank you so much. Hope you
enjoyed this episode. Until next time,
Clearly, the black soldiers were not in blind support of
the United States and everything that it does, but they
saw military service as a means for making a change.
Hello and welcome back. I'm your host, Marie Beacham, and
for today's Veterans Day special, we will be talking about
(00:21):
black veterans and black patriotism. These are two things that
you might not know about that would be good to
know about, and I'm going to use Veterans Day as
an excuse to teach you about them. You might not
even know what I mean by black patriotism, don't worry.
We'll get there. And you might not be familiar with
the history of black military service in the United States,
(00:46):
but it's a rich history and a tangled history, and
so we're going to fuse these two things together. Here's
where we're going. First, a quick note on black patriotism
and why I think every American something to learn from
black patriotism. Then I'm going to boom boom boom, run
through some history of famous distinguished black veterans from various wars,
(01:11):
and then we're gonna hone in some more on this
idea of black patriotism and what patriotism has meant to
Black people throughout history and how our modern sensibilities that
kind of shirk off patriotism and we go, ah, that
looks a lot like nationalism, and I want nothing to
do with that. Black Americans throughout history had a very
(01:32):
different intuition. That's what we'll be talking about. This feels
like a tried and true classic episode of the podcast,
full of research and tidbits and insights and dicey opinions.
So it's all the things we love now. As for
the topic of black patriotism, last year, I had the
(01:53):
privilege of researching black patriotism and assisting in a project
that I believe is still forthcoming, and it was a
fascinating project. I got to work under a brilliant man
who would laugh out loud at me calling him brilliant,
and we both learned a lot throughout the process of research. Now,
I'm not going to be consulting that research or infringing
(02:15):
on that project at all, But working on that project
a year and a half ago opened my eyes to
black patriotism because it was first brought to me and
in the subject's line was black patriotism, and I was like, huh,
now that's interesting sounds pretty niche, like are we talking
about black rednecks or something? But I was flat out wrong.
(02:40):
There's nothing niche about black people being patriotic because something
very different is meant by black patriotism. That's kind of
what the whole project broke open for me. So many
people today, are progressives today, think of patriotism as just
like ugly heavy handed nationalism, and it makes us WinCE.
(03:02):
And that's because we're thinking of this blind faith in
the American project, and we don't think that blind faith,
blind support is a good thing. But as you research
black patriotism and you do case studies of people throughout history,
and you also look at the research on black patriotism,
which we'll get to at the end, you find, Oh,
(03:23):
for a black person who black identity matters to them
and it's central to their overall identity, and being a
person in America matters to them, they don't have the
option of the blind faith, nationalistic yucky stuff. They have
to piece together some sort of complexity, the complexity of
(03:44):
being black and concerned with the history of oppression and
also being American and concerned with where we can take things,
how we can move forward into the future. And so
that's why I think black patriotism is such an interesting subject,
because it's patriot generally speaking, done well. It's patriotism believing
in America, not as it is, but as it ought
(04:06):
to be. And I know I kind of talk about
that every fourth of July. I bring up James Baldwin,
I bring up MLK, and I try to implore people
to obviously reject flat blind patriotism, but also to not
get rid of patriotism altogether, because I don't think that
we should just leave patriotism in the hands of people
(04:26):
who are unthinking, because patriotism, at its core, I say
this every fourth of July is being deeply invested in
your country and involving yourself in its politics, involving yourself
in its communities, trying to be a part taker in
the whole thing of shaping what the country is and
what we hope it can be. And if that's what
(04:49):
it means to be a patriot, then I think black
people have been the archetype of patriotism in America. And
I also think that anyone who considers themselves progressive or
or socially conscious or anything should also see the importance
of getting involved in that project too, So I know
it's kind of a weird take telling you to be patriotic.
But one thing that really stuck with me is when
(05:12):
I was doing the research project a year and a
half ago and I was talking to the person leading
the research. He said something to me that has stuck
with me. And I won't say it half as well,
but he was essentially saying black people are the first
and best patriots. He's like, as far as you know
the patriotism that I'm concerned with, the good kind of patriotism,
(05:34):
conscious patriotism. And he was like, because if it weren't
for black people's contributions in progressing America forward, if it
weren't for black people fighting for abolition, and if it
weren't for black people ending segregation and working toward integration
and leading the civil rights movement and doing all of
(05:55):
these things to objectively better America, if black people weren't
such conscious patriots, if they didn't get so invested in
this country and work their tails off to make a
change despite all of the oppression, all of the obstacles,
all of the barriers, then the America we'd be left
with today is one I wouldn't want to live in
He's like, I'm a guy who wants equality, I want freedom,
(06:17):
I want justice, And if it weren't for Black Americans
making justice and equality more of a reality, we'd live
in a terribly unjust, segregated, awful society today. And so
when we think about all the good things about society,
we have Black Americans to think for it. And my
jaw dropped because I've always heard the American story told
(06:38):
in a way where it's like, black people are the
ones who have been acted upon. Black people were the
ones who were enslaved until they were freed, and black
people were the ones who were discriminated against and victims
of prejudice until white people change their mind. And I
understand that telling because the oppressors are the ones with
the power, and there's truth in that town, because the
(07:01):
people in power are the ones with the agency and
the decision making power and all of that. I get that,
But I thought it was so powerful to hear about
this man whose perspective is like reverential awe for our
black forefathers who have made America really what it is.
And you might even say, ah, well, can you really
give them credit for that. Of course they wanted to
(07:21):
change that, but that's kind of because they were the victims.
So that's why they worked so hard to turn the tables.
And I think that there's an alternate reality in which
black people went the rout of Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X.
And there's this whole back to Africa movement within Black America,
people who said, you know what, America is irredeemable, and
I think our best hope is to get out of here.
(07:44):
And that could have played out and then America would
have been left as whatever the heck it is, and
it would have been awful. African Americans would have left
America and sought refuge elsewhere, and that could have happened,
but it didn't. Black Americans stayed, Black Americans fought, Black
Americans advocated, and it is Black American patriotism that we
have to think. And with that said, I think this
(08:05):
is a perfect opportunity to talk about the history of
black military service. I think that black veterans break our
categories they confound us, especially when we're talking about in
the earliest wars and the idea that black veterans were
willing to fight for a country that wasn't willing to
fight for them. We look at that and we just
(08:27):
go why. After I talk through some of these facts
about the pivotal role that black people have played in
the military and how black military service moved the needle
on racial progress and justice overall, will come to find
that black Americans fully understood the injustices that they were
(08:50):
dealing with, and yet fully committed and decided to enlist
in the military, fight in the wars, and part take
in the legacy of the US of A. For starters,
I think it's really interesting. I found this from the NAACP.
There has been no war fought within the United States
(09:13):
or fought by the United States in which black people
did not participate. This includes the Revolutionary War, the Civil War,
the War of eighteen twelve, the Spanish American War, World
War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War,
and the Golf Wars. On terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(09:36):
Black people have participated in every single war that the
United States has participated in. I also want to say
that today, I believe the military is one of the
most diverse employers there are. I think the military has
a lot more diversity than like Apple or Google. My
point is, in some ways, military service has always presented
(09:57):
itself as this great equalizer, before equal rights were afforded
to all people. Somehow, some way, black people could enlist
in the military and literally put on the same uniform
and get to the same work that white people, as
specifically white men, could also do. There weren't many other
lines of work where that was the case. A black
(10:20):
person's uniform would never be a white person's uniform, because
a black person's job was in no way a white
person's job. But the military was an exception. And even now,
the military presents itself as an option for black men
and women to get their education paid for, to get
guaranteed work, and for people of all races of course,
(10:40):
and it draws in diverse candidates, and that way, it
still kind of serves as this equalizer. And that's not
to say that the US military is perfect today. As
far as DEI goes Pete egg Set, the current Secretary
of Defense, I think he's made a series of decisions
that are downright discriminatory. He's slash d e. He's made
(11:01):
it a thing to as he calls it, reverse the
wave of wokeness that he thinks corrupted and undermined the
US military, and sadly, I believe he discriminated against many
qualified military officials, assuming that they were underqualified because of
their race. I wrote an article about that recently. I'll
have that linked in the show notes. But that's just
(11:22):
to say I'm under no illusions. When I say the
great equalizer, I don't mean the greatest of equalizers. I
just mean an equalizer. Now we're going to talk about
three wars, the Civil War, World War One, and World
War Two, and talk about the importance of black people's contributions. Now,
starting with the Civil War, A major player in urging
black people to enlist in the Union Army was Frederick Douglas.
(11:46):
In his autobiography The Life and Times of Frederick Douglas,
he writes, I urged every man who could to enlist,
to get an eagle on his button, a musket on
his shoulder, the star spangled banner his head, and there
is no power on earth which can deny that he
has earned the right to citizenship in the United States.
(12:08):
Douglas even toured around the country meeting with black people,
especially black people who were formerly enslaved and saying that
if you enlist, if you become an American soldier, and
you fight for America, you fight for the Union, you
help bring this war to an end, then it won't
just be white people working on our behalf or fighting
(12:29):
on our behalf, or earning us a freedom that then
they feel they also have the right to take away.
He was going around with powerful, compelling speeches compelling black
men to enlist, and in the end, ten percent of
the Union Army was black soldiers. Ten percent is no
small thing. Now, the Union Army in the beginning was
(12:51):
not trying to be big on black soldiers. Abraham Lincoln
and his administration they were still walking this tightrope because
the whole thing with the Civil War is obviously Confederate
states were not heeding Lincoln's authority. Here's how the National
Archives kind of explained the situation. Well, first of all,
there was a law that barred negroes from bearing arms
(13:14):
in the United States Army. That kind of didn't make
sense because black people served in the American Revolution, black
people fought in the War of eighteen twelve. But now
with the Civil War, they were saying, hey, look at
this law. Black people can't serve, so the National Archives
says quote. The Lincoln administration wrestled with the idea of
authorizing the recruitment of black troops, but they were concerned
(13:35):
that such a move would prompt the border states to secede.
When General John C. Fremont in Missouri and General David
Hunter in South Carolina issued proclamations that emancipated slaves in
their military regions and permitted them to enlist, their superiors
sernly revoked their orders, so there was some back and forth. However,
(13:57):
by mid eighteen sixty two, the escalating number of former slaves,
the declining number of white volunteers, and the increasingly pressing
personnel needs of the Union Army pushed the government to
reconsider the ban. So then a bit later, July eighteen
sixty two, Congress passed an act freeing slaves who had
masters in the Confederate Army. Shortly thereafter, slavery was abolished
(14:20):
with the Emancipation Proclamation. And as we all know, because
of June teenth and all of that, there was still
this long delay between slavery being formally abolished and slavery
as a practice actually coming to an end. In the end,
one hundred and seventy nine black men served as soldiers
in the US Army, twenty thousand in the Navy. And
(14:41):
of that whole group, which is about two hundred thousand,
about a fifth of black soldiers died during the course
of the war, so forty thousand Black soldiers, and of
that about thirty thousand of them died of infection or disease. Now,
when you look at black military service in the times
of the Civil War, all so find that there was
(15:01):
prejudice against black people and a big thing that's putting
it lightly obviously a big aspect of the debate for
the Lincoln administration and even people in the Union Army
who thought that black people deserved to not be enslaved.
Didn't actually have faith that black people were competent or capable,
and they didn't actually trust that black people, you know,
could be trusted in combat. And so back in the
(15:24):
Civil War, black units were not used in combat as
extensively as white soldiers. The units were segregated with black
enlisted men and often commanded by white officers and black
non commissioned officers. There were pay disparities which shocks no one,
and there was also a big difference in what would
happen to prisoners of war who were black versus prisoners
(15:46):
of war who were white. You can even go and
find the recruiting posters from the Civil War and find
that some of the promises that the Lincoln administration was
trying to make to attract more black people to enlist
was saying, and we'll find a way to protect you
equally from the torture that you're subjected to or had
it much worse than white prisoners of war. Still, black
(16:07):
people played a significant role, served valiantly and fought despite
lack of freedoms, fought despite prejudice, fought despite discrimination, and
thankfully we know how the story ends. The Union Army prevails.
Fast forward in quite a bit. Let's talk World War
One and World War II. In both World War One
(16:29):
and World War Two, there were black regiments that received
special honors, received acclaim and thankfully we know their history.
So what's really interesting is that in World War One,
one of these black soldiers, Horace Pippin, he struggled a lot,
obviously with the evils of war. Interestingly enough, he kept
this like comic book where he wrote about what he
(16:52):
saw firsthand and he also drew pictures with pencil and
cran So if you want to look that up Horace
pippin World War One Harlem Hell Fighter, that offers an
interesting first hand account. But with World War One, I
already tipped the hat. I want you to know about
the Harlem hell Fighters. This is from history dot com
and I quote. The Harlem Hell Fighters were an African
(17:13):
American infantry unit and World War One who spent more
time at combat than any other American unit. They proved
themselves able and fearless fighters, serving one hundred and ninety
one days on the front, more time and continuous combat
than any other American unit, and get this, never losing
(17:33):
a foot of ground or losing a man as prisoner.
The Harlem Hell Fighters were the three sixty ninth Squadron,
I believe, and their commanding officer, Colonel William Hayward said,
my men never retire. They go forward or they die,
and they did. They never lost a foot of ground
against the Germans. Following World War One, people were able
(17:56):
to see, Oh, this black unit and all black unit
soldiers was able to do a standout job. Ironically, but
kind of unsurprisingly, they never received an honor from the
United States, not for decades, but quote, at the end
(18:17):
of their service, the entire regiment received France's highest military
honor from a grateful French nation. So this unit, the
Harlem hell Fighters, say it with me. The Harlem hell
Fighters received honors, recognition, praise from the nation of France
and then returned home to a segregated, discriminatory United States
(18:39):
of America that gave them nothing, recognized, nothing, not equal pay,
not equal treatment, not freedoms back at home. And that
kind of contributes to why I want to tell their
story and I want us to know their story because
so many black veterans never saw that future that they
were fighting for, but the future that I believe that
(19:01):
they believed in. That's why I think it's so important
that now we listen, now, we pay attention, Now, we
give them the recognition that they're due. And similarly, scooting
on to World War II, if you know your trivia,
I bet you can guess it. And if you don't,
that's okay, we're going to learn. I want to talk
about the Tuskegee Airmen, and I quote, the Tuskegee Airmen
(19:25):
were the first black aviators to serve in the US
Army Air Corps. They broke through a massive segregation barrier
in the American military. Their success and heroism during World
War II fighting Germans in the skies over Europe shattered
pervasive stereotypes that African Americans had neither the character nor
the aptitude for combat, and their achievements laid crucial groundwork
(19:49):
for civil rights progress in the decades to come. So
the Tuskegee Airmen were a big deal. Again, it was
an all black unit of soldiers who were going to
be flying. Technically predates the Air Force, so that's why
it's called the US Army Air Corps. So that's why
they're said to be part of the US Army. But
flying and being part of what we now know is
(20:11):
the Air Force was a very big deal at the time.
So I think it's the twenties, it's the thirties. Pilots
who have made history change the world were like all
the rage, both Charles Lindberg and Amelia Earhart. They were
the biggest celebrities at the time, and being a pilot
flying was something that was reserved for the best of
(20:36):
the best. In nineteen thirty eight, President Franklin D. Roosevelt
said he was going to be expanding this pilot training program.
And in nineteen thirty eight, as we all know, racial
segregation remained the rule in the US armed forces as
well as much of the country. The military establishment, particularly
in the South, believed black soldiers were inferior to whites
(20:58):
and performed poorly in combat. That's from history dot Com. Now,
there was a lot of back and forth about this,
but the US military ultimately landed on, you know what,
let's have an experiment to see if black people can
be trained as combat pilots. So what's interesting is what
we now call the Tuskegee Airmen, where they were originally
(21:19):
called the Tuskegee Experiment, which is not to be confused
with the Tuskegee Experiment where black men syphilis wasn't being treated.
That's usually what we now referred to as the Tuskegee Experiment.
It was a terrible thing of medical malpractice that jeopardized
the lives of Yeah, that was bad, but that's not
this Tuskegee experiment. They called it the experiment because per
(21:43):
the National Park Service, it was an experiment to see
if negroes could be trained as combat pilots. This experiment
served to test out the findings of a nineteen twenty
five War Department study that asserted that quote the Negro
is fundamentally inferior to whites. The study further claimed that
Negroes lacked the intelligence, courage, and physical ability to operate
(22:06):
complicated military equipment such as combat aircraft. So in nineteen
forty one, the first to be trained as participants in
this experiment were mechanics who began their training in Illinois.
Twelve aviation cadets and one student officer, Captain Benjamin O.
Davis Junior, reported to Tuskegee Institute to begin primary flight
(22:27):
training as the first Negro pilot candidates in the US Army.
By November, they had demonstrated the necessary skills, completed the
rigors of training, and were transferred to the Tuskegee Army
Airfield for basic and advanced training courses. Then, in nineteen
forty two, the graduates of this class became the first
African American military pilots, and as the pilot training program expanded,
(22:50):
it eventually included participants from twenty nine states, foreign countries,
seven historically black colleges, and after testimony before Congress by
Captain Benjamin O. Davis Junior. They were given an opportunity
to provide escort cover for white bomber crews to and
from their targets. They performed exceedingly well, to the point
(23:10):
that they began to be requested as bomber escorts by
white bomber pilots. Overall, they had four hundred pilots who
saw combat. They lost about one hundred, with sixty six
dying during combat and thirty three being taken as prisoners
of war. Now it goes without saying that even after
they served and did exceptionally well at their task, disproving
(23:32):
the study which turned their training into an experiment, which
is just like mind boggling to my modern mind, they
still returned home to a segregated United States. For the
three hundred who were able to return home, and during
the time that they served, the military was still segregated,
so they were a completely black unit. But it was
(23:52):
in nineteen forty eight that President Truman issued an executive
order desegregating the military overall. One thing that I think
I think about with the Tuskegee Airmen is the whole
history wasn't as long ago as you think it was.
People will show pictures of Martin Luther King in color
and say, we need to show the pictures of him
in color because we don't realize how recent this was.
(24:14):
Or they talk about, like Anne Frank and Martin Luther
King their lifetimes overlapping and just saying history isn't as
long ago as we think it is. And with the
Tuskegee Airmen, lots of the men who are initially in
this training program, they continued on in their careers in
the Air Force, and they obviously became the first black
this the first black that. But what I think is
(24:35):
so surprising is one of them, Daniel Chappi James Junior,
became the nation's first black for star general in nineteen
seventy five. And to that, I'm just like, nineteen seventy five,
what's that doing in here? Like how are we talking
about nineteen seventy five when we're talking about segregation and
World War two and blah blah blah, like the seventies,
the seventies, But that's how long they stuck with their
(24:57):
military service. Like the same people serving the military in
nineteen seventy five were the people serving in the military
for World War Two, and that also means that the
white people serving the military in nineteen seventy five were
in the all white units in World War Two. Segregation
spanned their career all the way up to the mid
seventies and the late seventies, and just makes me think
(25:19):
about that whole idea that history is not as long
ago as we think it is. Another group worthy of
mention while we're talking about World War Two is the
Six Triple Eights. I have seen that this is a
Netflix film, so maybe you've seen it, in which case, great,
you probably know this already. But the six Triple Eights
were the first all women black postal battalion. They served
(25:40):
in England and they served in France and per the NAACP,
they quote were given the daunting task of clearing out
a two year backlog of over ninety thousand pieces of mail,
and after tremendous sacrifices and enduring many injustices, much to
the amazement of their white officers, they not only succeeded
in their mission, but they completed it in three months
(26:02):
and went on to make a positive impact on racial
integration in the military. So the Six Triple Eights were
black women in the six eight eighty eight squadron or
whatever you call it. That's why they're called six Triple eights.
And their motto famously was no male, no morale. So
they were like, we play an integral role in getting
the male to the people on the front lines so
(26:24):
that we can save their morale and save their their
fighting spirit and know that they're being supported by the
people back home. I can only imagine how low morale
was after being on a two year backlog, two year delay.
So the fact that they caught up that two year
backlog in just three short months, it was just another
thing in showing that these erroneous beliefs that black people
(26:47):
and people of color are inferior do a worse job.
Through excellence, they sent those beliefs tumbling down. Now, one
last thing I want to talk about with World War
Two before we then land the plane at black patriotism
just in general, is during World War two, there was
something called the double V campaign. Have you heard of this?
(27:09):
The Double V campaign. I've heard of this because I
know it was a thing in different black newspapers across
the country. The Pittsburgh Courier newspaper, I believe is the
one who started it, and then different black newspapers kind
of spread the word and I think they'd hold up
a double V like looks like two peace signs. And
what the double V campaign was the idea that we
need a double victory. We need victory overseas and we
(27:31):
need victory at home, victory in the war, and then
victory in these state side issues of discrimination and injustice.
And I quote the campaign highlighted the hypocrisy of fighting
for democracy overseas while African Americans faced segregation, discrimination, and
disenfranchisement in the United States. Its success helped build momentum
(27:55):
for the civil rights movement by demonstrating the contributions of
African Americans to the war effort while also pushing for
full citizenship rights. Now, that double V campaign is a
great segue into what I feel like is the elephant
in the room when we're talking about black veterans, black
military service, and it's that whole idea. I said it already.
(28:16):
Why were black people fighting for a country that wasn't
fighting for them? And I think with our modern sensibilities,
we would even think black people shouldn't serve in the military,
Black people shouldn't have put their lives on the line
for the United States when that's all that they had
ever known, their lives being disposable. But I feel like
(28:38):
the double V campaign brings together the tension. It brings
together the bothhand of black people were under no illusions
about the injustices at home. Black people were not, like
I said, there's no option for blind patriotism, for blind
support of the United States and everything that it does. Clearly,
the black soldiers were not in blind support of the
United States and everything that it does, but they saw
(28:58):
military service as a means for making a change. I
want to read from some black historical figures in their
own words about how they saw black military service advancing
racial progress, racial justice, and making small gains for black
people to be seen on equal footing. So in July
(29:23):
nineteen eighteen, this is all from the NAACP, an editorial
for the NAACP's Crisis magazine. It was written by WP Dubois,
whose ancestors had fought in the American Revolution, and he
echoed Frederick Douglas in his belief that World War One
offered the black soldier an opportunity to gain his stripes.
(29:43):
Many black soldiers gave their all to the war, some
winning medals for their bravery, even as the lynching did
not stop and the schools, bathrooms, and drinking fountains remained segregated.
So Dubois and Douglas both believing that the black soldier
had this opportunity to gain his stripes for all black peple. Similarly,
in nineteen seventeen, Charles Hamilton Houston entered World War One
(30:06):
as a commissioned first lieutenant in a segregated training squadron,
and he fought for the United States despite all of
the racism, all of a discrimination. He was in a
segregated training regiment, and it was while he was overseas
and in the military he encountered racism worse than he
had ever known. He later wrote, quote, the hate and
(30:28):
scorn showered on us Negro officers by our fellow Americans
convinced me that there was no sense in my dying
for a world ruled by them. I made up my
mind that if I got through this war, I would
study law and use my time fighting for who could
not strike back. So even in that, I find that
(30:50):
really interesting that instead of saying we experienced such hate,
what am I doing? Serving this same country. What am
I doing serving in the same military as these terribly
racist people. He didn't say, what am I doing here?
I should back out of military service. I should make
a swift exit, which is what I would. That's how
(31:11):
I expected that quote to go. There's no sense in
dying for them and their military and their country. But
in studies, has no sense in my dying for a
world ruled by them. And then he doubles down in
his commitment to get through the war, to study law,
and to fight for racial progress. I find that so fascinating.
I'm always like eyes wide open whenever I encounter perspectives
(31:35):
from Black Americans throughout history who just view their role
in advancing racial progress so differently than my current inclinations.
One more quote here is from Alan Locke, the first
black Rhodes scholar, and he wrote about quote a new
Negro who had returned from battle with a bold new
(31:56):
spirit that helped spark a new mood in the black community.
Blacks were willing to settle for nothing less than equal rights,
human treatment, and active involvement in politics, business, and the arts. Again,
this is insightful, this is eye opening, This makes sense
of the paradox of how were black people willing to
(32:18):
fight for a country that wasn't willing to fight for them.
I wanted to read it from people's own words, from pastimes,
because I don't even feel I can articulate it well enough.
Today we view this as a paradox being black and
being patriotic, being black and being like for America. And
I'm not saying this as like I have this be
and my bonnet, guys, and I think we need to
(32:38):
be more pro America. We're not pro America enough. That's
not what I mean by black patriotism. What I mean
is that in generations past and in times past, black
people saw themselves as patriotic, and they saw themselves as
deeply invested in America, deeply invested in the American project,
and they saw things like taking up the military service
(33:01):
as a way to do the necessary work of demonstrating
that they are worthy of equal treatments, They're worthy of
wearing the same uniforms, they are worthy of the same honors,
and they're worthy of eventually equal rights. I think it's
tremendous that they would fight knowing that they might not
see the fruit of what they were fighting for they
(33:24):
were fighting on behalf of their descendants. They were fighting
in the hope that there would someday be somebody who
would see the ultimate end. And like I said, I'm
frustrated that I can't even put it to words well enough,
because I think it's so commendable, and I, as a
black person in America today, feel that I owe my
(33:47):
thanks to the black people who came before me. And yeah,
we think of activists and that's incredible, but I don't
think that activism was purely holding up post and marching
in the streets. It was that, but it was also
more than that. It was that black people had been
inserting themselves in these white spaces, white territories, already and
(34:10):
already proving themselves, already earning respect that white people were
only giving but grudgingly. White Americans didn't want to serve
alongside Black Americans in the military, but Black Americans were needed,
and they proved themselves, and they demonstrated their competency, they
demonstrated their equality, they disproved the studies that said that
(34:31):
they couldn't do it. The same thing was true across
a number of industries, and it was that just general
life work whether it's military jobs or civilian jobs, where
black people were proving themselves and giving that foundation that
basis that then when activists come forward in the civil
rights movement and say we deserve equal rights, they're kind
(34:54):
of pointing back to because you know, we are equally capable.
You know, we are of equal character. You know we
are of equal in every way. We're doing what you do.
We're doing it just as well as you have to
know that we're not a different and lesser species. You
know this, We've proven this, and even so much of
the justification of discrimination was well, sure, black people they
(35:17):
might also be human in the way that white people
are human, but because of their history, you know, because
of slavery, because they're not educated, they can't catch up
with us. They can't keep up with us. That's why
you know, they're not afforded equal rights in every way.
It's because they haven't advanced to that point. You know,
they're a little behind us because we were enslaving them.
(35:37):
And so that's why, again it was so important that
black people were able to prove their abilities and prove
that the time was now for equal rights, the time
was now for equality of everything, and as I say this,
a big thing that a lot of people don't like
is something called respectability politics. Respectability politics is a term
(35:58):
that means basically, like a marginalized person is doing something
to earn the respect of a majority group, but that
something that they're doing to earn their respect in the
majority group is unfortunate. They shouldn't have to play the game.
So respectability politics, you could say, is like code switching
or having to dress like white people, talk like white people,
(36:19):
match to the majority culture. This isn't just for black people,
this is for people of any group. It's basically like
giving up a piece of yourself in order to play
the game, or working really really hard to earn respect
and opportunities that really should just be freely given but
they aren't. So as I'm saying all of this about
black military service, some of you might be thinking, Ah, sure,
(36:42):
that's great, but you know that's just respectability politics, and
respectability politics is unfortunate, which I agree with. I'm not
going to say respectability politics is a good thing, but
I don't think that accusing black veterans, black people in
any lifeane of like, oh, it's just too bad that
they had to play into respectability politics should in any
(37:05):
way take away from their actions or what they did.
We can grieve respectability politics and that they had to
go to those lengths to demand respect. But even in
calling something respectability politics, I don't like how, you know,
people will say MLK, they'll accuse him of respectability politics
because of how he talked and how he got a
(37:25):
you know, doctorate and systemic theology, and how he always
wore a suit, and how this and this and that,
and they're basically like he was just trying to assimilate
to white culture, to which I say, there were certainly
ways that he had to pander to white people, or
that he had to work upstream go uphill, and that's unfortunate.
But you can't diminish what he did because to you
(37:48):
it looks like assimilation, or to you it looks like compromise.
Even if assimilation was necessary, the blame or like our
frustration today, shouldn't be directed at the black people who
were doing that to demand respect, even if something would
be respectability politics. I think you can understand what I
mean when I say the blame should be directed at
(38:10):
the white majority who had this litmus test in these
things that needed to be passed in order for black
people to achieve racial progress. Does that make sense? And
so all that to say, black veterans serving in the military,
I wouldn't feel comfortable being like ah in this respectability politics. No,
I'd be like, Wow, we should applaud their efforts period
(38:33):
full stop. Now, one last thing I want to say
on all this is I want to circle back to
black patriotism. There's a study on black patriotism from twenty
twenty one by Mike E. Johnson called the Paradox of
Black Patriotism. And in this study, he is talking to
all of these different Black Americans in the year twenty
twenty one, and he's trying to make sense of how
(38:54):
they wrestle with black identity and American identity. And he
creates this framework that organizes the different ways that black
people balance those things. Because there's a whole diversity of views.
All black people have some range of identifying with being
black and or American. For some people, race is less salient,
(39:15):
for others, it's very salient. For some people. American identity
is less salient, for others, it's very salient. And he
creates this profile of different people who you know, see
things differently, and I want to focus on the profiles
for the two people who feel that their black identity
is very important. First, you have the subverter. This is
(39:36):
the profile that describes people who are very aware and
connected to social inequities, any injustices concerning the black communities.
They're very conscious of being black. But these are the
people who are detached from America. They are typically attached
to an alternative homeland such as Africa, Caribbean countries, or
a metaphorical nation. Many black people say, I've got nothing
(39:59):
tow do with America, but black people, that's a nation
within a nation. That's the nation I'm connected to. Forget
American society overall. So this profile, and I'm reading this
from the study, the subverter typically advocates for radical change
in American society. They may embrace a wide range of philosophies, communities,
and movements such as black liberation, theology, black power, black nationalism,
(40:23):
the Nation of Islam, and many others. Minister Lewis Farakhan,
he was the leader of the Nation of Islam. He
embodies the subverter profile. Malcolm X kind of worshiped Lewis
Farakhan before his late in life conversion away from the
Nation of Islam, and so he also fits this profile.
These black Americans feel very black and very not American.
(40:47):
He says, some countered white supremacy by adopting a black
supremacist ideology. That's like black nationalism, Nation of Islam. They
will tell you they have a black supremacist ideology. They
are highly critical and reject notions of a American benevolence
or progress. He also gives profiles of people who he's
spoken to who embody this subverter profile. That's just to
(41:08):
show you one end of the spectrum. But the other
profile I want to highlight is the conscious patriot. This
is kind of what I've been advocating throughout this episode.
This is what I think a black veteran is. By definition.
His example is not Lewis Fara connor Malcolm X, but
for this one is Martin Luther King Junior, who we
all know that I adore. And here's how he describes
(41:30):
the conscious patriot, which, by the way, I just want
you to have in mind. I think he describes the
conscious patriot saying, many black people negotiate the double consciousness
of being both black and American by constructing identities that
create a different kind of patriotism. They are connected to
(41:51):
both America as a homeland and the realities of black
oppression in America. These individuals, called conscious patriots, are keenly
aware of social inequalities and actively critique what they deem
to be a society characterized by historical and systemic social inequalities.
Doctor Martin Luther King Junior, who was attached to both
nation as well as race, personifies the conscious patriot profile,
(42:15):
and in the study, he says, from this perspective, all
true Americans must embrace conscious brands of patriotism that require
active dissent because it is their heritage and duty to
directly combat social inequalities. I relate. I am a self
professed conscious patriot, and I honestly think maybe you should
(42:37):
be too. I definitely empathize and sympathize with the black
people who are subverters, who identify with being black and
kind of reject being American because they despair of all
that America has been and they doubt what America could be.
But I fully believe that patriotism and feeling deeply engaged
in American society deeply engaged in our community. He's deeply
(43:00):
engaged in all that we know and fighting for something better.
When we look back at history just one hundred years,
two hundred years, the progress that we've made Black Americans,
black conscious patriots has been tremendous, and I don't see
why that wouldn't continue, and may be a little naive
I could see why. However, I think black conscious patriots
(43:22):
have overcome and will overcome again. I think that conscious
patriotism has triumphed. That's how we've made so much progress
in just a few generations. And really, what I hope
you take away from this episode is, yes, you'll remember
the Tuskegee Airman and the six Triple Eights and the
Harlem hell Fighters, But really, I hope you think deeply
(43:44):
about black patriotism because I'm of the conviction that if
more people were patriotic in the way that black people
are patriotic, where we don't have the option of blind support,
blindly backing everything America's ever done, we can't help but
have this critical conscious view, and yet we persist, and
(44:06):
yet we endure, and yet we work for change. If
more people were patriotic in that way, we'd have something really,
really good on our hands. That's what I hope you'll
be thinking about this veteran's day. This episode I decided
to release for everyone. If you're not a paid supporter
and a member, then that means that there are a
lot of podcast episodes you don't have access to, hundreds
(44:28):
of essays you don't have access to, And if you
enjoy my work, if you enjoy this learning, I think
you'd love all of the perks that come with membership.
The link to join is in the show notes. I
completely depend on the support of a small, small group
of people, and I am so grateful for everyone who
(44:50):
backs this mission and believes in it. If that's you,
I thank you kindly, Thank you so much. Hope you
enjoyed this episode. Until next time,
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!