Found 7 collections related to United States -- Armed Forces -- African Americans -- History

An African American career soldier, Jesse J. Johnson authored eight books and several plays about the military service of black men and women. The Jesse J. Johnson military collection consists primarily of secondary sources and printed material, along with typescripts of his plays and one of his books. less

Lawrence D. Reddick served as curator of the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature, 1939-1948. An African-American historian, Reddick was interested in the role of the black soldier in U.S. wars and published on this topic. Concerned that the role of black soldiers during World War II would not be portrayed accurately by the government, the mainstream or black press, Reddick initiated a campaign to document the experiences of blacks in the military using their first hand accounts. He placed an ad in newspapers served by the Associated Negro Press, requesting that letters written by black soldiers to their families be sent to the Schomburg Collection. In addition, he conducted interviews with black servicemen and women from 1944 to 1946, and collected memorabilia and other World War II related items. The Lawrence D. Reddick World War II Project Collection, 1943-1953 (bulk 1943-1945) consists of correspondence with black servicemen and women, summaries of interviews Reddick conducted, as well as research files maintained by him. The series Letters and Interviews, 1943-1945 consists of more than a hundred letters that black servicemen and officers, and a few black servicewomen, wrote principally to their families and friends relating the individuals' experiences. The servicemen were stationed in all of the theaters of operation, and some were stateside at various training camps throughout the United States. Of note is a letter Dwight Eisenhower wrote in 1947 in response to a letter from Reddick, stating his opposition to discrimination of American soldiers based upon color or race. Also included in the collection are summaries of interviews Reddick conducted between 1944 and 1946 in Harlem with former servicemen and officers. The interviewees were forthright in their discussions about their experiences with both black and white soldiers and officers, and the people in the countries where they served. There are also summaries of interviews with several black servicewomen and one white serviceman, as well as civilians. Individuals interviewed include William E. Artis (artist), Warren Cuney (writer), Benjamin O. Davis (Air Force General), Ewart Guinier (who later headed the first African-American Studies Department at Harvard University), William H. Hastie (civil rights attorney), Roi Ottley (author and journalist) Leigh Whipper (actor). less

Levi Coppin Hubert (1904-1970) was an African American journalist who worked for both Black and white newspapers in New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, among other cities, in the 1930s. During that time, he also worked for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) writing news stories about Blacks in Harlem for the Federal Writers' Reporting Project. Most notably, with nine other contributors, he wrote a guidebook, The History of the Negro in New York, detailing the history of Blacks in New York City from 1623 until 1936. Additionally, he headed the Publicity Unit of the Federal Music Project. Hubert's primary research interest was the history of Black soldiers in the United States Armed Forces. He wrote manuscripts for two books, "In the Name of Congress: Inspiring Stories of 47 Negroes Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor", which he completed in 1967, and "Their Muskets Flashed the Dawning: Regimental Histories of the United States Colored Troops During the Civil War: 1962-1865"; there does not appear to be evidence that either of the manuscripts were published. Hubert also helped prepare a four-part silent filmstrip called the "History of the American Negro (1619-1865)" for use in schools. Hubert died in 1970. The Levi C. Hubert papers pertain to Hubert's research on Black soldiers in the United States Armed Forces and other topics in African American history, and include manuscript drafts, correspondence, reproductions of photographs, news clippings, notes, and printed material. Most of the material is devoted to his manuscripts, "In the Name of Congress: Inspiring Stories of 47 Negroes Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor" (1966-1967), which discusses awardees from the Civil War era to the War in Vietnam, and "Their Muskets Flashed the Dawning: Regimental Histories of the United States Colored Troops During the Civil War," which is mostly a compilation of official Civil War records of the Union and Confederate Armies. There are drafts for both manuscripts as well as research material. Drafts for short articles that Hubert wrote can be found in this collection, while printed copies of his articles for the Federal Writers' Reporting Project are contained in a scrapbook. Also included are notes, correspondence, and printed material regarding the filmstrip entitled "History of the American Negro (1619-1865)." There is also some genealogical material concerning Hubert's family. less

The World War II letters from African-American Soldiers collection consists of letters from African-American servicemen to Elnora (Nora) Bing Williams and her husband, Edgar Thomas (Ned) Williams of Brooklyn, New York. The correspondents are relatives and friends, and the letters describe their social and recreational activities on and off U.S. military bases. The soldiers share news about other family members and friends back home as well as those also in the military. In only a few letters were their lives as African-American servicemen portrayed, or their relationships with white military men or townspeople described. The letters from friends also describe training to become non-commissioned officers. All of the servicemen had been drafted; a few men attained the rank of sergeant, corporal and lieutenant. Several were stationed in the Pacific and Europe, and obliquely wrote about general conditions there. less

The Middleton "Spike" Harris Civil War and Reconstruction collection consists of documents pertaining to the Civil War from both the Union Army and the Confederate states. Among other items, there is a pay claim issued by the Confederate Army, U.S. Army discharge papers, and an amendment to the Negro Soldier Bill investing Confederate General-in-Chief Robert E. Lee with full power to call slaves into service. Included is a letter from William Lloyd Garrison in which he declares that the U.S. government should be held responsible for abolishing slavery. The Reconstruction era is represented by three documents including a signed loyalty oath, 1865, and a letter to President Andrew Johnson from someone seeking to be appointed an agent to sell cotton brought to market by freedmen in Texas, 1867. less