African Americans in U.S. Military Senior Leadership: Barriers and Progress

Introduction: African Americans and the U.S. Military

Today, of the approximately 1.3 million men and women on active duty in the U.S. armed forces, fully 43% — or about 560,000 individuals — are African Americans (Cooper, 2020). However, there is a stark and persistent paucity of senior leaders among these African American service members. Indeed, these disparate representation rates have remained stagnant for more than half a century, with little or no substantive progress having been made in reducing the gap. Although some encouraging signs are emanating from the White House and Pentagon that promise to improve African Americans' promotion opportunities in the future, the process requires time — and some observers suggest that time is no longer a luxury the U.S. armed forces enjoy.

The experience of African Americans in the U.S. armed forces is inexorably tied to more than 350 years of slavery, which began in the early 1600s, and the Jim Crow era, resulting in a nadir in American racial relations during the early part of the 20th century (Kendrick, 1998). Despite these brutally challenging and dehumanizing experiences and the obstacles in their path to equality, African Americans have served with honor and distinction in every war fought by the United States, including the Revolutionary War. According to Ender and colleagues (2015), "Indeed, a Black, 47-year-old, runaway slave named Crispus Attucks was the first American killed by a British soldier [...] in the course of events which would lead to independence in the United States" (p. 231).

Notwithstanding this extensive track record of military service, the numbers of African Americans enlisting in the armed forces has been on the decline, most notably in the U.S. Army and Marine Corps — a trend that became evident following the cessation of hostilities in Afghanistan and Iraq. The decline in enlistments in those two service branches is noteworthy because they are tasked with executing the ground component of land warfare, making them the indispensable "boots on the ground" still required for conventional war.

Although these recent modest declines in enlistments have brought the representation of African Americans more in line with their overall share of the American population, the U.S. military still provides invaluable career opportunities for many African Americans who might not be able to secure comparable benefits elsewhere (Segal & Thanner, 2007). In this regard, Ender et al. conclude that "While their numbers are currently more in line with their proportional representation in the larger society, previous representation suggested both a tradition of service, patriotism, and providing the African-American community with a major path towards career development not found in the civilian economy" (p. 233). These opportunities, however, are also characterized by the fact that minorities in general — and African Americans in particular — consider themselves far more likely to be assigned to hazardous combat scenarios, a perception further affected by ongoing reports of institutionalized racism in the armed forces over the past 30 years (Ender et al., 2015).

Notwithstanding the multiple benefits that accrue to individuals who serve in the armed forces, the combined effects of these negative perceptions may help explain the current dearth of top-ranking Black leaders in the U.S. military. There have been some notable exceptions — most notably the assignment of retired four-star Army General Lloyd Austin as the first African American Secretary of Defense — but promotion opportunities have been bleak for the vast majority of Black officers in recent years. According to Brook (2020), "The lack of Black officers in the Army's combat commands has diminished the chances for diversity in military leadership for years to come, resulting in a nearly all-white leadership of an increasingly diverse military and nation. The Army, the largest of the armed services, has made little progress in promoting officers of color, particularly Black soldiers, to commands in the past six years" (para. 4).

Brook (2020) further notes that "Black people make up 22.7% of enlisted soldiers, 16.5% of warrant officers and 11% of officers on active duty as of July [2020]. At the officer levels, this is a decrease from 21%, 18.4% and 12.6%, respectively, in 2010 [and] the stakes of fairness and equity are manifest [as well as] the military's ability to defend the nation" (para. 6).

The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the key reasons behind the inordinate underrepresentation of African Americans in senior leadership positions in the U.S. armed forces. A qualitative literature review of peer-reviewed and scholarly resources served to illuminate the multiple barriers prohibiting African American officers from reaching those senior positions. Recommendations to decrease the racial imbalance in the Armed Forces conclude the study.

The study was guided by the following research questions:

1. How does military service affect interracial perceptions and attitudes?

2. What has been the historic role of African Americans in the U.S. armed forces compared to today?

3. What is the current representation of African Americans in top commissioned leadership positions compared to the American population at large?

4. What steps are being taken to address any identified disparities in representation among upper commissioned leadership echelons?

Significance of the Study

Many of the more recent efforts to address disparities in the representation of African American commissioned officers in the top leadership echelons of the armed forces have serendipitously coincided with the nation's outrage over the murder of George Floyd at the hands of law enforcement, and these changes underscore the importance that overcoming racism in the military services has assumed in recent years. In his testimony before a U.S. Congressional committee, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff made it clear that "We must thoughtfully examine our institution and ensure it is a place where all Americans see themselves represented and have equal opportunity to succeed, especially in leadership positions" (as cited in Brook, 2020, para. 6). In sum, African Americans in the U.S. military have faced the double burden of institutionalized racism combined with political turmoil, and these issues are examined further below.

Historical Context of African American Military Service

One of the especially noteworthy aspects of African Americans' early commitment to defending the United States is the fact that they were actually exempted from the U.S. Militia Act of 1792 — which mandated involuntary military service for all males — yet they continued to serve regardless. As Ender et al. (2015) observe, "In the new United States, African-Americans continued to serve in times of war — in particular, in the War of 1812, and the Mexican Wars — but their status as a soldier was second class at best" (p. 231). Despite offers of freedom from the embattled Confederacy, African Americans also played an essential role in winning the Civil War (Ender et al., 2015).

Despite being relegated to a second-class citizen role during the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, African Americans continued their military service even when compelled to serve in segregated units. These conditions underscored the need for senior African American military leaders to command those segregated units, including the famed Buffalo Soldiers in the Indian and Spanish-American Wars. Henry O. Flipper consequently became the first African American graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1877, and another 24 Black graduates followed by the end of the century (Ender et al., 2015).

Although race relations remained strained during the first decades of the 20th century, growing numbers of African American men and women came to regard service in the armed forces as a viable path toward greater social equality — views that became especially pronounced following the United States' entry into World War I. Here again, however, despite their honorable and even heroic service, these same men and women were relegated once more to second-class status once the war had been won (Ender et al., 2015).

Things began to change more substantially during and after World War II. According to Ender et al., "World War II facilitated a continued struggle on the part of African-Americans to serve in the military, and they did so with gallantry. That effort propelled them demonstrably forward in the struggle for both military and societal integration" (p. 233). This struggle was resolved by Executive Order No. 9981, promulgated by President Harry S. Truman in 1948, which desegregated military units that would go on to fight in Korea and Vietnam. These contributions to national defense were responsible, at least in part, for the eventual passage of the Civil Rights Act and subsequent federal legislation designed to guarantee African Americans their fundamental constitutional rights.

In what can be regarded as yet another historic turning point, the percentage of Black service members in the armed forces remained consistently high even after the end of conscription and the introduction of the All-Volunteer Force in 1973. Since that time, African American representation in the U.S. armed forces has consistently outpaced their representation in the general American population — a trend that continues to the present day.