Hope Hollinsworth Coaxum Author Blog

BHM - African Americans in Times of War: The Complicated History of African Americans in the Military. As we venture into Black History and the history of African Americans in the military we come to understand more deeply how the sacrifices made by African Americans who had served in the U.S. military affected the opportunities that we, as a people would have in civilian life. We would also see how the deeper understanding could change the way we, and other people of color, saw the world. What this does for us is, it makes us feel like we should be the best version of ourselves that we can be, that we haven’t squandered the sacrifices so many others made so that we could have the opportunities we have.  To speak even further, if you know what your people have gone through — if you really, really know — then there’s no stopping you from accomplishing what you want. However, that’s just one reason it’s a problem, far too many people don’t know.

In having the conversations with veterans who served many decades ago, I realized that there have been some changes.  In World War II, the military was segregated.  Black men who served were treated like second class citizens and in many cases weren’t even allowed to fight. And now it’s about the equal-opportunity employer and basically anyone can fight and the military is combined. This is considered to be a really big change concerning our military. Another change is African-Americans who join the military in this day and age are looking for opportunity and ways to better their lives. This is considered progress, more than outside of the military. When you fight with people and you die with people, and you put yourself in a place where you’re entrusting your life to someone else, the bonds you have with each other are a lot stronger than if you just work.

African Americans in Times of War is such an important part of American history and I think there’s a lot of pride that African Americans, that all people of color, can feel when they read the accounts, listen to the stories or sit back and talk with a Veteran of color. It’s important for us to know our place in history, but most times we don’t. We never learned this stuff when we were growing up so why not teach it now to our younger generation. Provide them with the history that’s missing in our schools so that they in turn can teach others.  Let these stories be told as it makes you understand why this country is our country, and that is noteworthy in the society we live in today.

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