Black Soldiers and Jim Crow
Fighting for Respect in the Age of Racist Segregation
Even before Thomas Jefferson’s immortal words, “all men are created equal,” signaled the dawn of the New Nation, blacks, free and slave, were already sacrificing for principles they did not yet enjoy. Less than 100 years later, the sacrifice of blacks in the Union Army illustrated their commitment to freedom, hoping that future generations of blacks would one day enjoy all the benefits of a democracy Jefferson arguably intended solely for the New Nation’s white elite. Unfortunately, those benefits were slow in materializing. The history of black soldiers has been one of intense hardships. These hardships were not only evident on battlefields abroad, but on the battlefields within this country. The incidents at Brownsville and Houston, Texas demonstrated that this Jim Crow-influenced society considered black soldiers suitable to die elsewhere, but unfit to live next door.
Buffalo Soldiers in the West and Cuba
After the Civil War, the Reorganization Act of 1866 created four black units within the regular army: the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments and the 9th and 10th Cavalries. Those black units assigned to the Western U.S. became known as Buffalo Soldiers to the thousands of Native American Indians they were sent to displace. By the end of the 19th century these same regiments were sent to protect American investments in Cuba. With the support to the 9th and 10th Cavalries Theodore Roosevelt rode his way though Cuba and into the White House. Sadly, he severely diminished the war-time contributions of black soldiers.
The 24th Infantry in Brownsville, Texas
As America entered the 20th century, Jim Crow was already well entrenched. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1908) and Woodrow Wilson (1912-1920) presided over a country that tolerated violence committed against its own citizens. Sadly, members of the Army’s black regiments suffered under the indignities of overt racism. In the summer of 1906, black soldiers from the 24th Infantry arrived in Brownsville, Texas, to the dismay of local residents who insisted on strict adherence to Jim Crow segregation. In less than two weeks, the 24th Infantry found themselves at the center of a civil uprising after being circumstantially linked to a shooting in a white neighborhood. As a result, 167 black soldiers were dishonorably discharged without corroborative evidence of guilt. Not surprisingly, President Roosevelt applauded the findings.
The 24th Infantry in Houston, Texas
Evidence suggests Woodrow Wilson believed in the inferiority of blacks even before he resided in the White House. Therefore, the atmosphere of racism emanating from the oval office was palpable as it became painfully obvious that black soldiers were being asked to sacrifice their lives on foreign battlefields for principles that they, nor their ancestors, ever enjoyed.
The 24th Infantry were no more welcome in Houston than they were in Brownsville. But the conflict in Houston did not involve civilians, but instead the police. Weeks of racial intimidation culminated into violence in August, 1917. The three-hour conflict resulted in sixteen white fatalities, the immediate removal of the 24th from the area, numerous blacks imprisoned, and the execution of nineteen black soldiers. The aftermath of this incident reverberated throughout Houston for decades as whites strictly enforced segregation, and the city’s black community begrudgingly accepted it.
Conclusion
Even with these incidents of racism and violence, black soldiers continued to serve and defend democracy abroad while suffering the indignities of Jim Crow at home. Thankfully, the New Nation finally recognized the bravery of black units like the Tuskegee Airmen which hastened the integration of the military, and subsequently led to the Martin Luther King, Jr. – led civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
References
Gianakos, Perry. “The Spanish American War and the Double Paradox of the Negro American.” Phylon 26, no. 1 (1st Qtr., 1965): 34-49.
O’Reilly, Kenneth. “The Jim Crow Policies of Woodrow Wilson.” The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 17 (Autumn, 1997): 117-121.
Schuler, Edgar. “The Houston Race Riot, 1917.” The Journal of Negro History 29, no. 3 (Jun., 1944): 300-338.
Thornbrough, Emma Lou. “The Brownsville Episode and the Negro Vote.” The Mississippi Valley Historical Review 44, no. 3 (Dec., 1957): 469-493.
Tinsley, James. “Roosevelt, Foraker, and the Brownsville Affray.” The Journal of Negro History 41, no. 1 (Jan., 1956): 43-65.
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