Black History Month - Theme "African Americans in Times of War"
Paying homage to the African Americans, brave
black men and women who served their countries in the armed forces like the Tuskegee
Airmen who were highly decorated for their service in World War II. The theme
this year for Black History is African Americans in Times of War which celebrates the centennial
of the end of the First World War in 1918, and searches the complex meanings
and implications of this international struggle and its aftermath. Those very
notions offer a broad, useful framework for concentrating on the roles of
African Americans in every American war, from the Revolutionary War Era to that
of the present “War against Terrorism.” Times of War unavoidably provide the
structure for many stories associated to African American soldiers and sailors,
veterans, and civilians. This is a theme filled with enigmas of valor and
defeat, of civil rights opportunities and hindrances, of struggles abroad and
at home, of inventive creativity and of suppression, and shattering loss of
life and the righteous hope for peace.
The theme
submits that modern conditions, past and present, give us cause for critical
pause in our studies and debates to consider the specific and unique issues
faced by African Americans in times of war. These issues include opportunities
for progression and repression of instances during wartime; the struggle to
integrate the military and experiences during segregation/apartheid and
successful integration; veterans experiences once they returned home; the
creation of African American Veteran of Foreign War posts; cultures and
aesthetics of dissent; global/international discourse; the impact of migration
and urban development; educational opportunities; health care development; the
roles of civil rights and Black liberation organizations, including the Black
Power movement and the Black Panther Party; the roles of African American
businesses, women, religious institutions, and the Black press; in the struggle
abroad and at home; the structures and spaces of Black military struggle,
resistance and rebellion; and how Black soldiers and/veterans are documented
and memorialized within public and private spaces. These diverse stories will
reveal war’s impact not only on men and women in uniform but on the larger
African American community in which we live.
#BlackHistoryHHC
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