e black man had enough of a stake in the society to justify his fighting for its survivalö (Berry and Blassingame, 1982, p. 295), blacks have fought in every war the United States has entered. Berry and Blassingame correctly note that the service of black men (and later black women) is replete with ironies.
Blacks became cannon fodder again and again to prove their loyalty to a nation which disowned them. The history of black military service is filled with paradoxes. Whites, insisting on the inferiority and natural cowardice of blacks, usually entered wars by prohibiting or limiting black participation. As the patriotic ardor of whites waned with mounting casualties, they turned to blacks to fill the ranks. Quick to praise blacks for their bravery in the hear of battle, whites discovered the same men were cowards the day after peace was declared (Berry and Blassi
...