African Americans in the U.S. Armed Forces: A History
This research paper examines the role of African American soldiers in the United States military from the Revolutionary War through the modern War on Terror. It traces their contributions to major conflicts including the Colonial War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, and both World Wars, while analyzing the racial prejudice, segregation, and exploitation they endured throughout. The paper argues that African Americans were frequently called upon as a last resort during military crises, yet consistently proved indispensable to American victories. Drawing on historical records and scholarly sources, it contends that their military service — combined with the foundational labor African Americans provided in building the nation — makes the case for full civil and human rights unambiguous and long overdue.
- Introduction: African American Labor and Military Service: Overview of African American labor and military contributions
- The Revolutionary War and Early Enlistment: African Americans fighting on both sides of the Revolution
- The War of 1812 and African American Sailors: Black soldiers and sailors in the War of 1812
- The Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation: Emancipation enabling mass African American Union enlistment
- World Wars, Segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement: WWI draft changes, WWII service, and civil rights progress
- Conclusion: Service, Sacrifice, and the Case for Equality: Military sacrifice as foundation for civil rights claim
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- The paper uses a chronological structure that allows readers to track both military contributions and evolving racial dynamics across distinct historical periods, giving the argument cumulative force.
- Direct quotations from institutional sources — the National Park Service, military historians, and archival records — ground the historical claims in credible, documented evidence rather than generalization.
- The paper consistently links military service to the broader civil rights argument, making its thesis about equality feel earned rather than asserted, by building on concrete examples across multiple wars.
Key academic technique demonstrated
This paper demonstrates the use of historical pattern recognition as an argumentative strategy. Rather than relying on a single case study, the author identifies a recurring dynamic — African Americans being enlisted as a last resort during military crises — and applies it across multiple conflicts to build a unified thesis. This technique, sometimes called convergent historical evidence, strengthens the paper's central claim by showing that the exploitation and indispensability of African American soldiers was systemic, not incidental.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a thematic introduction establishing African American contributions to both labor and military service. It then proceeds chronologically through the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, and the World Wars, devoting a section to each. Each section follows a similar internal logic: context for enlistment, nature of service, racial treatment, and significance of contributions. The conclusion synthesizes these historical examples into a direct argument for civil rights and equality.
Introduction: African American Labor and Military Service
Africans and African Americans have always played an integral part in the foundation, establishment, and operation of the United States of America. This nation was largely erected through slave labor, in which African Americans worked in the southern-based agricultural industries upon which the nation's economy was built, constructed the railroad system that helped connect the country's disparate regions, and engaged in numerous skilled and unskilled tasks that eventually enabled America to thrive as a superpower. If African American contributions within the military have been significantly less discernible, they are no less important. Quite simply, African American soldiers were influential in all of the major wars this country has fought, from the Revolutionary War to the current War on Terror.
This fact, in conjunction with the labor African Americans produced in civilian life — even during the epoch in which they were not even considered full persons under the law — renders it untenable to deny these people equality in any socio-economic climate that has existed in America's history. As such, they are certainly deserving of the same civil rights and human rights as any other citizen of this country, or of any other country as well.
Works Cited
Bryan, Jami. "Fighting for Respect: African-American Soldiers in WWI." www.militaryhistoryonline.com. 2003. Web.
Kuryla, Peter. "Ralph Ellison, Irving Howe, and the Imagined Civil Rights Movement." Society. 50 (1): 10–15. 2013. Print.
National Archives. "Teaching With Documents." www.archives.gov. 2010. Web.
National Park Service. "Stories From The Revolution." www.nps.gov. 2008. Web.
New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs. "The War of 1812." New York State Military Museum. 2006. Web.
Selig, Robert. "The Revolution's Black Soldiers." www.americanrevolution.org. No date. Web.
Wells, Erika. "Exhibit Showcases African-American Civil War Troops." The Journal. 2014. Web.
Younge, Gary. "America Dreaming." New Statesman. 142 (5171): 20–23. 2013. Print.
Create your account
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.