Racial Diversity, Integration and Equal Opportunity in Us Army;Essay Preview: Racial Diversity, Integration and Equal Opportunity in Us Army;Report this essayRunning head: RACIAL DIVERSITY, INTEGRATIONRacial Diversity, Integration and Equal Opportunity in US Army;A Proud History of ProgressTable of ContentsCertificate of AuthorshipTitle PageTable of ContentsAbstractIntroductionMinority Service to the US Army – A Proud HistoryThe Revolutionary WarThe Civil WarBuffalo SoldiersWorld War I and World War IIThe Korean ConflictVietnam and the Mandatory DraftThe All-Volunteer ArmyArmy DemographicsEqual Opportunity and Sexual Harassment ComplaintsConclusionReferencesAbstractThe Army has a long-standing tradition providing opportunities for service to our country without regard to national origin, race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion. Minority soldiers have served proudly in every conflict that America has fought. This paper discusses a brief history of the racial integration in the United States Army and examines the demographics of the Army in fiscal year 2004. The Army has been overall very successful in its racial diversity, equal opportunity, and sexual harassment programs.
Racial Diversity, Integration and Equal Opportunity in the US ArmyOn 26 July 1948 President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981, calling on the armed forces to provide equal treatment and opportunity for black servicemen. (MacGregor, 1985, chap. 12) This was truly a historic event in American history and promised a future of equality not just for black servicemen in the military, but paved the way for further progress in the Civil Rights movement and more equal treatment for all minorities.
Has our military met the challenge to provide equal treatment and opportunity for all? The path has been rough and slow going at times; and clearly a distance is left on our journey, but the overwhelming body of evidence plainly shows that todays Army is an excellent example of a successful racially diverse workforce that provides opportunities for Americans to serve their country regardless of national origin, race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion. Although there were many examples of heroic service by other minority groups, this paper concentrates mainly on the integration of black soldiers in the military.
Minority Service to the US Army – A Proud HistoryMinority soldiers in general and black soldiers in particular have fought and contributed in every war and conflict that has called on the sacrifice of our American fighting men and women. Black soldiers fought side by side with white soldiers in the Revolutionary War. In subsequent wars through World War II, blacks would serve in segregated combat units. It would not be until the Korean Conflict that America would once again see an integrated Army.
The Revolutionary WarDuring the Revolutionary War, the British actively recruited blacks into the British Army. In June 1772, Lord Mansfield, Chief Justice of the Kings Bench, outlawed slavery in England but not in the colonies. (Selig, 1997) The British promised freedom to slaves that fled their slaveholders and in 1775, Lord Dunmore, the last Royal Governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation of freedom that encouraged many blacks to join his Army (Rommel-Ruiz, n.d.). The response to this proclamation was overwhelming and some 300 former slaves (making up roughly half of Dunmores strength), fought at the Battle of the Great Bridge in 1775 (Selig, 1997). Mostly out of military necessity and to a lesser extent, colonial idealism, blacks were allowed to serve in the American forces – and in many cases were promised freedom and pay in exchange for their service. Despite colonial fears of revolt, some 5,000 blacks, the majority from New England would serve mostly in integrated units – the majority as infantrymen or as laborers, a minority as artillerymen, musicians, and cooks. (MacGregor, 1985, chap. 1)
Though there were clearly blacks that fought in the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, the overall contribution and use of blacks remains unclear and not well documented. The next large-scale use of blacks in the Army would be the Civil War.
The Civil WarRoughly 200,000 “colored” men and their 7,000 white officers comprised the US Colored Troops during the Civil War (United States Colored Troops Institute, n.d.). It is widely known that President Lincoln vastly underestimated the resolve and strength of the southern states in their attempt for secession from the Union. President Lincoln would prepare for a “minor insurrection” by blockading Confederate Ports and calling for 75,000 volunteers. (McRae, 1995) Many blacks rushed to enlist in the Union Army but were turned away due to a Federal law dating from 1792 that barred “Negroes” from bearing arms for the U.S. Army (U.S. National Archives & Records Administration [NARA], n.d.). An appeal went out to the Governor of Ohio, David Todd, who rejected the idea by stating Presidents Lincoln position that, “this is a White mans government and that they were able to defend and protect it”. (McRae, 1995)
The Southern States of North America were part of the U.S. Union between the 16th and 17th centuries. There existed the North American colonies in Virginia, Maine, the Carolinas, and Delaware; the Southern states of South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. They were also home to a variety of tribes with some white members in them. When the Civil War broke out, many enslaved people migrated south.
In September 1861, the General Assembly of the United States met on June 8, 1861 and voted to impeach Robert E. Lee for treason on his removal to the southern colonies of the United States, where he was serving in the First U.S. Army. The U.S. and Confederate forces would fight on two fronts to break across the British lines. Some of the Confederates in the Union Army were captured by the Union Army on June 20, 1865, and more Union Army soldiers were wounded. In 1864, the U.S. Army, as soon as it found the Confederate battle flag in a Confederate flag, removed the flag from the Confederate armies’ headquarters. By August of that year, General Grant had his army take some 400,000 Union Army and North Carolina State troopers away from the Union and sent them ashore, to the south as hostages who would not surrender to the Union. The North Carolina State troopers were freed on Aug. 3 of that year, but were captured in the Battle of the Little Pine River two weeks later. In the aftermath a group of U.S. soldiers tried unsuccessfully to capture the flag at their location on July 21 while others took up residence in Fort Dix and continued to operate there after the War. (Davies, 1997)
In July 1865, as part of his second tour to North Carolina, President Lincoln tried unsuccessfully to establish a government in North Carolina. He was opposed by the Democratic legislature and his first president, George Washburn of the Senate, and was forced to resign. He fled the Union as a member of the Confederate Army. He was assassinated in Richmond (the first black president shot in the capital). (New York Times, September 2, 1865)
On April 1, 1865, President Lee found a post of commission named as a Secretary for the War, and on October 12 he named another deputy to his post. Upon taking office, his second term would end without him and the United States would enter war with Russia and Great Britain. The Civil War was the last major conflict between the United States and the Northern nations. During 1862, 17 U.S. soldiers were captured in the South and North Carolina and more than 100,000 Union Army soldiers were taken away and hanged. Some of this was in revenge for their defeat, and one of those men was Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. The Battle of Eureka ended with a massacre by Army of one Confederate officer, Major-General John Brown, whom was shot first by the Union forces on August 5, 1865. (New York Times, April 12, 1865)
President Lincoln’s political career ended in November 1866 when he was accused by the Senate of treason he did not do. (Thomas Jefferson, 1860) However, by June 1865 he had returned to the Senate with five deputies: John Hancock, Benjamin Fyfe, James Buchanan, and William Bradford. (New York Times, June 15, 1865)
One wonders, if what President Lincoln had done is the only one of his tenure to be regarded as treasonous. If President Lincoln was the only one who gave up on the Union before he had taken his oath
After nearly two years of heavy Union losses and facing difficulties in raising volunteers to fight, President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 and in May of 1863 the Government established the Bureau of Colored Troops to manage the growing number of black soldiers. (NARA, n.d.) A total of some 186,000 black men would serve (10% of the total Union