- Secretary Denis McDonough
VA is celebrating Black Veterans and encouraging all Veterans to tell their stories. Veterans are encouraged to visit (https://rly.pt/BlackHistoryMonth) to learn more or share their experiences with the Veterans History Project run by the Library of Congress (https://rly.pt/VeteransHistoryProject).
We invite you to attend:
» VA’s Center for Minority Veterans - Black History Month Program on February 1, 2024: Events Calendar - Center for Minority Veterans (https://rly.pt/CMVCalendar).
» Black History Month Virtual Outreach Symposium on February 8, 2024: Outreach and Events - Black History Month Virtual Outreach Symposium (https://rly.pt/BlackHistoryMonthOutreach).
With RallyPoint, we’ve previously partnered to answer Veteran questions in February 2023 with the VetXL: Minority Veterans Together event in honor of Black History Month. Some of the questions included:
“There is a great need for a panel to investigate the disparity in how disability cases are handled and awarded. There is a huge disparity between male and female ratings and between white and other races. So, if I am an AA female I am at the bottom. The state of Florida would be a good place to start.”
“I am African American disabled veteran residing in the state of Alabama. I and several other African American veterans in my state have been denied several times or delayed when trying to get disability benefits. I trained myself to do and help other veterans obtain disability benefits. I noticed that veterans that I help that are not African Americans get their benefits faster and with no problems. Some have not served any time other than training while on active duty. I truly understand systematic racism. My question is what can you or are you doing to help African American veterans in the southern states other than talk about the problems?”
What can we do, as a veteran community, to help promote these programs to minority veterans? How can we help?
We invite you to comment on these and the many more questions and feedback or ask new questions! Ask or comment here: VetXL: Minority Veterans Together Q&A (https://rly.pt/MinorityVetXLQA).
Get the benefits and services you’ve earned:
If you have any questions about how to access your VA benefits, please call us at 1-800-MyVA411 or visit us at VA.gov. You may also be interested in VA’s Center for Minority Veterans (https://rly.pt/VACMV).
Spread the word:
Please use these outreach kits to share Veteran resources with your networks.
The outreach kit includes flyers, social media graphics and suggested corresponding language, radio public service announcements (PSA), newsletter content and a sample blog post to help you spread the word.
» What can VA health care do for you? (https://rly.pt/VAHealthcareOutreachKit)
» What can VA disability compensation do for you? (https://rly.pt/VADisabilityCompensation)
SOURCE : https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1270&context=historical-perspectives
V1 : https://youtu.be/5K_4sdRB3ZU?si=p0OVpxyuxzrvWTsW
V2 : https://youtu.be/SepPz7ODnKg?si=k-eObJJxFe8VUDNO
1.) Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate
Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate
Journal of History, Series II
Journal of History, Series II
Volume 26 Article 11
2021
Patriotism Betrayed: How the U.S. Military Resegregated From
Patriotism Betrayed: How the U.S. Military Resegregated From
1913-1939 1913-1939
From 1913 to 1939, segregation in the U.S. military grew steadily worse due to President Woodrow Wilson's racist policies, an influx of white officers commissioned during World War I who had no experience working with black soldiers, and white society's fear of black veterans. Popular narratives of racism and the fight against it often unfold as a steady linear progression that gets slowly better with time. However, there are many dispiriting cases in American history in which racial progress occurred, only to be rolled back, leaving things as bad as or worse than before. The imposition of Jim Crow following the collapse of Reconstruction is the best-known example. Sadly, the racial resegregation of the U.S. military during this period stands as another.
SOURCE : https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1270&context=historical-perspectives
2.) African-Americans and the Selective Service Act of 1917
With the entry of the United States into the Great War in 1917, African Americans were eager to show their patriotism in hopes of being recognized as full citizens. After the declaration of war, more than 20,000 blacks enlisted in the military, and the numbers increased when the Selective Service Act was enacted in May 1917. It was documented on July 5, 1917 that over 700,000 African Americans had registered for military service.
However, they were barred from the Marines and served only in menial roles in the Navy. Blacks were able to serve in all branches of the Army except for the aviation units.
The government made no provision for military training of black officers and soon created segregated training camps for that purpose. Disheartened, blacks protested against this discriminatory practice. Despite the outcry, Fort Des Moines in Iowa became one of the segregated camps and in October 1917 over 600 blacks were commissioned at the camp as captains and lieutenants.
SOURCE : https://history.delaware.gov/world-war-i/african-americans-ww1/#:~:text=After%20the%20declaration%20of%20war,had%20registered%20for%20military%20service.
3.) African-American Troops Fought to Fight in World War I
SOURCE : https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/1429624/african-american-troops-fought-to-fight-in-world-war-i/
———-
When was the US military segregated?
Because of this resistance to the Army's treatment of its black soldiers, military leadership began to attempt to address the issue beginning in 1943, but segregation in the armed forces remained official policy until 1948
SOURCE : https://www.gao.gov/blog/75-years-after-segregation-banned-military-dod-continues-its-efforts-combat-discrimination
“Woodrow Wilson was extremely racist — even by the standards of his time”
BLACK Soldiers/Human-beings were lynched in and out of uniform
American Serviceman Defends Muslim Worker
From the show "What Would You Do" an American soldier instinctively defends a Muslim deli worker being harassed.Jim On History Episodes: https://www.youtube....
Integrity :
* INTEGRITY
Do what’s right, legally and morally. Integrity is a quality you develop by adhering to moral principles. It requires that you do and say nothing that deceives others. As your integrity grows, so does the trust others place in you. The more choices you make based on integrity, the more this highly prized value will affect your relationships with family and friends, and, finally, the fundamental acceptance of yourself.
https://youtu.be/bG6omxJJrw4
The Creed
* I am an American Soldier.
* I am a warrior and a member of a team.
* I serve the people of the United States and live the Army Values.
* I will always place the mission first.
* I will never accept defeat.
* I will never quit.
* I will never leave a fallen comrade.
* I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained, and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills.
* I always maintain my arms, my equipment, and myself.
* I am an expert and I am a professional.
* I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy, the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.
* I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.
* I am an American Soldier.
SOURCE : https://www.odu.edu/armyrotc/about/creed#:~:text=everything%20you%20do.-,Integrity,say%20nothing%20that%20deceives%20others.
Warrior Ethos
What is it'
The Army Warrior Ethos states, "I will always place the mission first, I will never accept defeat, I will never quit, and I will never leave a fallen comrade."
The Warrior Ethos is a set of principles by which every Soldier lives. In a broader sense, the Warrior Ethos is a way of life that applies to our personal and professional lives as well. It defines who we are and who we aspire to become.
SOURCE : https://www.army.mil/article/50082/warrior_ethos#:~:text=The%20Army%20Warrior%20Ethos%20states,by%20which%20every%20Soldier%20lives.
By only retailing the familiar comfortable stories of the ( “African Americans/Black People/Colored/Negro/The African/The Blacks/The Coloreds/The “N-Word”/Mulatto) soldier experience … you’ve left them behind and they are forgotten.
You disgrace their service and contribution by only telling the part of their experience and sacrifices that’s palpable for self-comfort.
My postings are not about shaming, it’s about accountability and growing from these FACTS.
It’s your platform
V/R
U.S. Army Veteran
12 1/2 years Honorable Service ODS Vet : Support Garrison OEF/OIF Vet : Deployed to Theatre
No Political Affiliation
26th July 1948: Executive Order 9981 abolishes racial segregation in the US military
Although African-Americans had made significant contributions to the Armed Forces stretching back to the American Revolution, the uniformed military remained...
1.) Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces (1948)
On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed this executive order banning segregation in the Armed Forces.
SOURCE : https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/executive-order-9981
2.) Executive Order 9981, Desegregating the Military
Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument
On July 26, 1948, President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 9981, creating the President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services. The order mandated the desegregation of the U.S. military.
The first point in the executive order states “It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale.”
Truman’s order received pushback from politicians, generals, and friends, who opposed an integrated military. Truman wrote in response to his detractors, “I am asking for equality of opportunity for all human beings, and as long as I stay here, I am going to continue that fight.”
SOURCE : https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/executive-order-9981.htm
My forefathers had to fight in order to “FREELY” serve in the military. They were willing to risk their lives, swallow their PRIDE to “PROVE TO THE WHITE MAN” they belonged in America let alone the United States Military.
No the fluff historical FACTS aren’t their only stories.
#neverforget
* US Army Corps of Engineers
* U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters Website
Historical Vignette 011 - Former Chief Played a Part in Army Integration
Desegregation of the U.S. Army became policy when President Harry S. Truman signed Executive Order 9981 on 26 July 1948 stating, "There shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed forces without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin."
The order also established an advisory committee to examine the rules, practices, and procedures of the armed services and recommend ways to make desegregation a reality.
SOURCE : https://www.usace.army.mil/About/History/Historical-Vignettes/Women-Minorities/011-Army-Integration/
He Risked His Life Filming This Mississippi Senator's Plantation In 1964
I have kept this kinescope in my archive since it was recorded by a colleague of mine in 1964. He had the guts to go on to the Senator James Eastland plantat...
1.) How the GI Bill's Promise Was Denied to a Million Black WWII Veterans
Erin BlakemoreApr 20, 2021
SOURCE :
https://www.history.com/news/gi-bill-black-wwii-veterans-benefits
2.) After the War: Blacks and the G.I. Bill
SOURCE :
https://americanexperience.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/After-the-War-Blacks-and-the-GI-Bill.pdf
3.) 1945 Black veterans return from World War II
In many ways returned Black World War II veterans changed the climate of the South by taking up the deliberate and concerted work of dismantling white supremacy. On July 2, 1946, for example, twenty-one-year-old Medgar Evers, his brother Charles, and four other Black World War II veterans, went to the courthouse in Decatur, Mississippi to vote. They had been the first Black people there to attempt to register to vote since Reconstruction. The six veterans had returned home after fighting for democracy in France and England to find that they were still only second-class citizens.
When they arrived at the courthouse that election day, fifteen to twenty armed white men were waiting for them. So, Evers and his comrades went home to get their guns. The mob was still waiting when they returned to the courthouse, and the six veterans decided not to fight or vote that day. But that wasn’t the end. Both Medgar and his brother would go on to become important leaders in Mississippi’s Freedom Movement, Medgar especially, providing crucial support to SNCC and CORE.
While the United States denounced Hitler’s ideas of Aryan “supremacy” in Europe, U.S. hypocrisy was exposed to Black servicemen and Black civilians alike because Black people remained second-class citizens in the military and at home. Across the country, Black Americans adopted the “Double V” campaign, demanding victory abroad against fascism and victory at home over white supremacy.
SOURCE :
https://snccdigital.org/events/black-veterans-return-from-world-war-ii/
*** this a repost from myself, because people are tooooo comfortable with the status quo ***
1.) Fort Pillow Massacre
Fort Pillow Massacre: Background
In 1861, the Confederates constructed a military installation at the Fort Pillow site and named it for General Gideon Johnson Pillow (1806-78), a Tennessee native. Fort Pillow overlooked the Mississippi River and was an important part of the Confederate river defense system before it was captured by federal forces in the summer of 1862.
Despite the ferocity of the attack, Fort Pillow was of little significance to the Confederate Army, and Nathan Bedford Forrest's troops abandoned it within hours of the massacre.
In March 1864, Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-77) launched a cavalry raid in western Tennessee and Kentucky that was aimed at destroying Union supply lines and capturing federal prisoners. In early April, he determined to move on Fort Pillow, located 40 miles north of Memphis. At the time, Fort Pillow was being held by a garrison of around 600 men, approximately half of whom were Black soldiers.
Fort Pillow Massacre: April 12, 1864
Union survivors’ accounts, later supported by a federal investigation, concluded that African-American troops were massacred by Forrest’s men after surrendering. Southern accounts disputed these findings.
Forrest, himself, claimed that he and his troops had done nothing wrong and that the Union men were killed because Bradford had refused to surrender. Controversy over the battle continues today.
The Fort Pillow site is now a Tennessee state park.
SOURCE : https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/fort-pillow-massacre
2.) Fort Pillow Massacre
American Civil War
Fort Pillow Massacre, Confederate slaughter of African American Federal troops stationed at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, on April 12, 1864, during the American Civil War. The action stemmed from Southern outrage at the North’s use of Black soldiers. From the beginning of hostilities, the Confederate leadership was faced with the question of whether to treat Black soldiers captured in battle as slaves in insurrection or, as the Union insisted, as prisoners of war.
SOURCE : https://www.britannica.com/event/Fort-Pillow-Massacre
3.) At Fort Pillow, Confederates Massacred Black Soldiers After They Surrendered
Targeted even when unarmed, around 70 percent of the Black Union troops who fought in the 1864 battle died as a result of the clash
Erin L. Thompson
Author, Smashing Statues: The Rise and Fall of American Monuments
April 10, 2023
SOURCE : https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/at-fort-pillow-confederates-massacred-black-soldiers-after-they-surrendered-180981952/
Fort Pillow Massacre: Facts, Deaths & Significance | HISTORY
The Fort Pillow Massacre in Tennessee on April 12, 1864, in which some 300 African-American soldiers were killed, was one of the most controversial events of the American Civil War. Though most of the Union garrison surrendered, and thus should have been taken as prisoners of war, the soldiers were gunned down by Confederate forces.
Legacy and controversy
Forrest has proved to be one of the Civil War’s most controversial figures. Unsurprisingly, given his culpability in the Fort Pillow Massacre and the formation of the KKK, Forrest and his image have come under attack by many sectors, especially from African Americans.
On the other hand, many white Southerners continue to admire Forrest for his wartime record, common-man origins, and masculine bearing.
Forrest’s notoriety only increased when, in 1867, he became the first grand wizard of the original Ku Klux Klan (KKK), a secret hate organization that employed terror in pursuit of its white supremacist agenda.
Although the extent of Forrest’s influence in the KKK is disputed, at the very least his prestige served to expand membership rolls.
The KKK embarked upon a campaign of intimidation and violence against Southern Blacks and Republicans until Forrest ordered the organization disbanded in 1869.
Nevertheless, local chapters of the KKK continued to be active, and Forrest was ordered to appear before a congressional hearing in 1871.
In his sometimes contradictory testimony, he denied membership in the organization.
SOURCE : https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nathan-Bedford-Forrest/Postwar-life-and-the-Ku-Klux-Klan
He was a POS white racist insecure-coward … when called before congress “In his sometimes contradictory testimony, he denied membership in the organization.”
The reputation of General Forrest, under whom Ellen's great-grandfather served during the latter half of the war, has come to be defined by two infamous, yet brief, chapters in his life: his controversial assault on the Union-held Fort Pillow in 1864; and his post-war involvement with the first incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan
SOURCE : https://huntsvillehistorycollection.org/hhc/showhpg.php?a=article&id=311
Confederate monuments: Nathan Bedford Forrest, the general involved in the Fort Pillow massacre
SOURCE : https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2020/07/30/nathan-bedford-forrest-confederate-ft-pillow/ [login to see] /
He was a weak pathetic coward racist Pusillanimous, when given the opportunity to publicly announce his hatred and racism as a member of the insecure kkk, he coward and denied his part in the racist gang.
Nathan Bedford Forrest - Confederate General, KKK Founder
Nathan Bedford Forrest - Confederate General, KKK Founder: Forrest’s postwar business career was not as lucrative as his antebellum ventures. He had exhausted his fortune during the war, and with the abolition of slavery he lost one of his most valuable avenues for making money. After serving as the president of the Selma, Marion and Memphis Railroad, he settled on managing a plantation manned by convict labour. Forrest’s notoriety only...
1.) The Original Airborne Rangers: The Legend of "The Buffalo Rangers"
FORT MOORE, GA, UNITED STATES
02.29.2024
Story by Sgt. 1st Class Jorden Weir
The 75th Ranger Regiment
Before the Ranger Creed existed …
Before the first Ranger Charter was ever thought of …
There existed Rangers: Rough men who stood up when their country needed them, who volunteered for the most dangerous missions, and who met their enemies eagerly and with ill-intent.
This is the story of one such group of men, the legendary Buffalo Rangers, the U.S. Army's first and only all-black Ranger Company.
This is the story of one such group of men, the legendary Buffalo Rangers, the U.S. Army's first and only all-black Ranger Company.
“These gentlemen led the way,” said Capt. Tyree Meadows, a Ranger with the 75th Ranger Regiment’s Military Intelligence Battalion, “Not only for integration for the Ranger Regiment, but also for the Army.”
2nd Ranger Company was only activated for 11 months, from 1950-1951, yet from their first combat action near Tanyang in early January 1951 to the first airborne operation in Ranger History, Operation TOMAHAWK, the effects of their audacity, valor, and heroism in the midst of hellish wartime conditions have rippled across the years and played a pivotal role in shaping the identity of the 75th Ranger Regiment for all time.
SOURCE : https://www.dvidshub.net/news/465045/original-airborne-rangers-legend-buffalo-rangers
2.) RANGERS HISTORY
The 2nd Ranger Infantry Company
“Buffaloes” in Korea, 29 Dec 1950 - 19 May 1951
SOURCE : https://arsof-history.org/articles/v6n2_buffaloes_in_korea_page_1.html
The Original Airborne Rangers: The Legend of "The Buffalo Rangers"
Before the Ranger Creed existed … Before the first Ranger Charter was ever thought of … There existed Rangers: Rough men who stood up when their country needed them, who volunteered for the most dangerous missions, and who met their enemies eagerly and with ill-intent. This is the story of one such group of men, the legendary Buffalo Rangers, the U.S. Army's first and only all-black Ranger Company.
Hard Habits For Ordinary Men Which Are Easy For Sigma Males
I am working on something and I need your help to answer some questions so email SIGMA Male to the mail down below. Thank youEMAIL: m7.media.info@gmail.comJo...
Army sets aside convictions of 110 Black Soldiers convicted in 1917 Houston Riots
By U.S. Army Public AffairsNovember 13, 2023
WASHINGTON — Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth has approved the recommendation of the Army Board for Correction of Military Records to set aside the courts-martial convictions of the 110 Black Soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment (also known as the Buffalo Soldiers), who were convicted following the World War I-era Houston Riots. The records of these Soldiers will be corrected, to the extent possible, to characterize their military service as honorable.
SOURCE : https://www.army.mil/article-amp/271614/army_sets_aside_convictions_of_110_black_soldiers_convicted_in_1917_houston_riots