Thursday, February 1, 2018


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 #Sheshereforit


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