African-Americans in the U.S. Armed Forces
This research paper proposes to discuss the importance of African-American soldiers in the United States military. It will do so from a decidedly comprehensive approach which highlights their contributions to the major martial endeavors the U.S. has undertaken since its inception. In examining the history of these soldiers within America, this paper proposes to also deconstruct the motives which galvanized African-American soldiers to enlist in the military. These motives will be contrasted with those of conventional European-Americans'. In order to properly provide the context for the examination of the influence of African-Americans in the U.S. military, this paper proposes to consider the extreme amount of reliance on African-American labor that helped to build the basic municipal, social and economic structures of the country.
Additionally, this paper will illuminate the type of treatment which African-American soldiers were subject to during virtually all phases of the history of America, from its beginning to contemporary times. It will discuss the notions of racism and prejudice as it pertained/pertains to these soldiers in the armed forces by considering facets of segregation and integration within the service. In doing so, this document will demonstrate that these people were called upon to fight in America's wars typically as a last resort. However, their influence repeatedly proved crucial and was one of the significant factors in the victory of the Colonial War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War.
Lastly, this document will demonstrate that because of the valuable assistance proffered by African-American soldiers, they deserve full equality and civil rights in this country. This statement is based on the impact of their assistance both within and without the military service.
Africans and African-Americans have always played an integral part in the foundation, establishment, and operation of the United States of America. This nation was largely erected due to slave labor in which African-Americans worked in the southern-based agricultural industries upon which the nation's economy was, constructed the railroad system which helped to connect the disparate locations across the nation, and engaged in numerous other skilled and unskilled tasks which eventually enabled America to thrive as a superpower. If African-American contributions within the military of this country have been significantly less discernible, they are no less important. Quite simply, African-Americans soldiers were influential in all of the major wars in which this country, from the Revolutionary War to the current War on Terror. This fact, in conjunction with the labor African-Americans produced in civilian aspects of life (even or especially during the epoch in which they were not even considered people) renders it ludicrous to deny these people equality in the current social economic climate of today, or even in any other socio-economic climate that has existed in America's history. As such, they are certainly deserving of the same civil rights and human rights as any other man in this country, or in any other country as well.
One of the little known facts associated with the founding of the U.S. is the role that African-American soldiers played in the waging of the Colonial War. In this war, as in many others which ensued, African-Americans fought on the same sides as Americans of European descent, or of any other descent. Actually, there is evidence that indicates that during the Revolutionary War, African-Americans actually fought on both sides -- that of the colonists and that of the British (particularly since Britain abolished slavery well before America did) (Selig). Although the motives for African-American soldiers may not have been the same as those of their European counterparts -- the latter were waging war for socio-economic freedom whereas African-Americans...
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