Unsung Patriots: African Americans in America’s Wars

EVENT CANCELLED

National Archives Museum
Online

POSTPONED - A rescheduled date will be posted at a later time.

Eugene DeFriest Bétit describes the significant role and contributions of African Americans to every war in American history. In the colonial wars, the Revolution, and the War of 1812, African Americans served as seamen, gunners, and marine sharpshooters in the Navy and made up 15 percent of the Continental Army. In the 19th century, Black soldiers’ service continued: they constituted nearly 200,000 soldiers of the Union Army during the Civil War, fought as Buffalo Soldiers in the Indian Wars of the 1870s, and served in the military up through the Spanish-American War. In World War I, the segregated 92nd and 93rd Divisions received the Croix de Guerre from France. In World War II, more than a million Black servicemen served the United States. In the years since World War II, African American soldiers remain a class apart—during Korea, during Vietnam, and beyond.