Blacks in the Military

Although blacks have participated in every war since the American Revolution, on has to look far and wide to recognize a black man in any Hollywood film before World War II. For example, 5,000 of the 300,000 troops in the Continental Army were black, the Louisiana Battalion of Free Men of Color was a major black segregated unit in the War of 1812, 180,000 blacks served in the Civil War, and of the two major segregated black units in World War I, 5,100 casualties were recorded (GENMISC.DOC 1). Blacks were treated notoriously bad in the military in any wars prior to World War II. Often, they were used for service and then dismissed from the military as happened with many of the marines from Montford Point, the first all-black marine training camp. Many blacks joined the military to gain their freedom, such as military freedom was. Many blacks lost their lives or were disabled in combat and were not entitled to benefits or relief for their survivors. Adding to this, the military was segregated before World War II, and black troops often saw training and battle conditions and accommodations that were far inferior to those experienced by whites. After World War II, the military became segregated and blacks and whites gained a more egalitarian status in the military. It was during this period that Hollywood began to portray the black military man in film. This analysis will discuss the portrayal of blacks in the military in

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960s, 1970s, and 1980s. As on film critic relates, this problem is “emblematic of a dilemma that has been central to the cinematic portrayal of black soldiers since Home of the Brave: To what extent are such characters allowed to exist as flesh-and-blood African-American characters as opposed to abstract symbols of white ideals about black behavior. Ralph Ellison, back in 1949, summed up what would be an ongoing problem with race-related films by saying that movies such as Home of the Brave are ‘not about Negroes at all; they are about what whites think and feel about Negroes” (Seymour 3). The films dealing with the black military experience started to expand in scope in the 1980s. During this decade more and more films portraying black military members began to flesh out issues that had long plagued blacks in a segregated and racist society and a segregated and racist military. In A Soldier’s Story, we are presented with a film that portrays the killing of a rough sergeant of an all-black platoon during World War II. This film broke ground in its depiction of black military men and the racial issues that involved them inside white society and inside the white military. However, it was even more profound and unique becaus
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Approximate Word count = 2005
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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