Reader's Comment: Blacks in America's Wars, by Robert W. Mullen

U.S. Wars and the Black Struggle

For serious students of U.S. and world history, African-American Studies, and participants in the class struggle to end oppression, this book is must reading.

The author reviews Black participation in U.S. wars from the Revolutionary War through Vietnam. Blacks have always had to fight racism as well as declared enemies. Mullen describes how escaped slaves served under the command of a slave owner, George Washington, during the Revolutionary War against England. Initially the U.S. returned ex-slaves to their owners. That changed only when the British promised to free slaves who joined their side.

Two wars in which African-Americans played a decisive role were the Civil War and World War II. Both wars ushered in gigantic changes for the U.S., Black people in the U.S., and the situation of the U.S. in the world. The Civil War was the last progressive war waged by the U.S. government, as it ended slavery. In contrast, World War II signaled the triumph of U.S. imperialism over its capitalist rivals. Mullen analyzes how Blacks seized upon the hypocrisy of U.S. rulers' stated aims and stepped up the fight against racism both within the Armed Forces and society as a whole, giving rise to the Civil Rights movement. Coupled with the rise of the colonial revolution, the liberation struggle grew, drastically improving conditions for Blacks in the U.S.

A myth has grown up that the military is a pro Black institution that has been a "successful" example of the "integration" of Blacks and other minorities into US society. Mullen destroys that myth in this succinct, clear, and well-documented history. The racist military has always resisted Black humanity, even when Blacks struggled to win the revolutionary victories if 1776 and provided the decisive element in winning the Civil War. The forgotten chapter, the one the most lies are spread about, Vietnam, discloses the real relations between the military and Blacks at a time an ongoing and independent thinking Black movement was rising up. Read Mullen if only for his picture of black radical opposition to the brass, to the war, the whole idea both from within and without the US war machine during the war against the peoples of Indochina.

A concise overview of Afro-American participation and attitudes towards military service, both volunteer and by forced conscription, in two-centuries of U.S. wars. I didn't know a lot of the specific facts, especially about early wars from the 1776 American Revolution on, until I read this book..

Mullen starts from the reality of Afro-Americans in U.S. society, from slavery to Jim Crow segregation, to today's racist oppression. I found especially interesting his discussion of the attitudes of Afro-Americans towards serving in the U.S. military, at times hoping that combat service would help them win equality at home, and later, especially during the 1950s and 1960s, growing opposition to U.S. wars. Also the discussion of the long-standing efforts to fight segregation and discrimination within the military. Mullen's coverage of the views of different leaders of the civil rights and Black power movements of the 1960s towards the U.S. war in Vietnam is well worth reviewing today.

Don't miss the many photos and illustrations: they certainly help bring the issues and struggles covered here vividly to life.

Hair's deeply insightful story of one man driven to take the most desperate of measures in New Orleans at the turn of the Century (1900) will keep you home and the TV off.

Sit back, fasten your seatbelt and go back to Mississippi after the Civil War. It's a tough place to visit, you sure would not want to live there. Eianr E. Kvaran

This is a big little book well worth reading and well worth owning with a place of honor in the personal library.

Hair does a remarkable job of pulling together the obscure and little-known facts about "Robert Charles", an obscure and little-known historical figure who would have quickly made himself perfectly at home in 1960s America. More importantly, Hair's research and narrative provide a brilliant portrait of a period of American history, approaching the mystery of Robert Charles through a necessarily oblique but dead-on examination of turn of the century racial etiquette in the South; Afro-American attitudes regarding racism, self-defense, identity, militancy, and politics; state and regional economic issues; and the pathological behavior of the white victims of supremacist theories and beliefs. Although the question of who, exactly, was Robert Charles cannot be completely answered---if it could, Hair would have done it---the question of WHY did Robert Charles exist and die as he did is effectively answered through a compelling narrative that proves that history and its writing can be as exciting as any modern story of injustice, oppression, personal dignity in the face of ultimate destruction, and right beaten to ground by actual numerical, and assumed racial, superiority. Hair deserves to be honored for his detective work and meticulous research as well as his ability to make about two hundred pages do the work of some who would have said the same thing, and less eloquently, in six hundred. He should also be commended for refusing to let anything but historical facts and sound reasoning fill in the blank spaces in his history because the temptation to make assumptions in order to flesh out Charles' story must have been a consideration during the writing of the book. This is a small, well-written, rewarding examination of a historical figure and the times that he lived and died in. It's surprising to me that no one has made a movie based upon the book since it has all the drama, suspense, tension, tragedy, and action anyone could possibly hope for regarding a historical figure whose pledge to live and die like a man was a sacred vow and, perhaps, a moral lesson. For those who are aware of Robert F. Williams' place in Afro-American history, Robert Charles will be recognized both as of his time and ahead of it, helping to lay a foundation for the future struggles of others.

Considering the fact that Hair first published this book in the late 1970s or very early 1980s, I am amazed that there are so few reviewers of it. I fervently hope that the lack of reviews is not an indication of a lack of readers for this important historical work.

William Ivy Hair in this fast-paced, readable book accomplishes more in a couple of hundred pages than many of our more ponderous historians have aimed to achieve in far-bulkier works. If future historians learn to write and marshall their facts as well as Hair does here, the tales of our past will remain vivid and important to young readers of the future.

The Truth About World War II

This is more than a story of the racist attacks-court-martials, violent mobs, lynchings-that were the real face of the U.S. "war for democracy." It's a story of how Black workers fought back (including many GIs), based on news articles from the socialist newspaper, The Militant. Learn how the "March on Washington Movement" swelled in response to Roosevelt's racist imperialist war. Glimpse the heroism of the participants in the protests and uprisings, which have been erased from the official history books. Their courage is part of the heritage of today's working class. But this book is the only place where you can find it truthfully presented.

This is a wonderful collection, an essential part of the history we need to know to understand American capitalism and racism, the fight for Black liberation and equal rights, and working class struggles as a whole. The protests and campaigns described here were an essential foundation for the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and should inspire us to continue the fight today.

Here are some 150 articles, pamphlets and political resolutions, a week-by-week account of political developments and struggles during tumultuous years of the 1940s. They come from the socialist newsweekly, the Militant, and are written by working class leaders seeking to build on the labor battles of the 1930s and to deepen the fight against racist oppression.

The articles document instances of police brutality and killings, lynch-mob murders of Blacks, and the pervasive racist discrimination in employment, housing and the military. But above all, they record, analyze and promote the fight against these conditions. The success in uniting Black and white workers to smash Henry Fords anti-union stronghold and bring the UAW to Ford Motor Co., the mass protests of the 1942 March on Washington Movement-- and the bitter opposition of the Roosevelt administration to this anti-racist movement; the 1943 Harlem rebellion against killer cops-- "A protest against intolerable conditions;" its all here to learn from and be inspired by. An extensive chronology and glossary will help today's reader understand this history all the better.

The US that waged World War II was a racist country, fighting to preserve its own ability to segregate and exploit African Americans, defending and trying to get a piece of Britain, Belgium, Holland, and France's Racist exploitation of hundreds of millions of colonial slaves, and to hold on to its oporession of Latin America and get as big a piece of China, Vietnam and other countries and Asia as they could. Could there be any wonder that at home, battles were fought by African Americans against racism, in housing, in jobs, in access to health care and education, just as they were fought before and after the war and continue to be fought. It is not wonder the SWP fighter and leader who is the principal author and editor of this book was chosen by Malcolm X 20 years later to be the person who edited and helped to publish his writings. These fighters were the Malcolm X's of their time....

An excellent comprehensive account of all six Ranger Battalions. A highlight for Ranger relatives in Black's book is the composite listing of all Ranger's names under their designated Battalion.

Writing of a purely American unit, whose combat experiences have been forged in three and a half centuries of fighting, Robert Black traces the history of the United States Army Rangers in World War II from their conception in Northern Ireland, to their last battle in the South Pacific. Unlike the modern day soldiers who bear the same name, the Rangers of World War II were not airborne commandos; rather, these men were highly motivated, all-volunteer soldiers comprised of mostly mechanized soldiers of varying duty assignments from Patton's First Armored Division. Despite their military lineage, these soldiers served as specialized infantry soldiers with the utmost gallantry, earning their baptism under fire at Dieppe and continuing to spearhead most of the American led assaults throughout the remainder of the war.

Black's style is frank and straightforward and one can quickly appreciate the candor with which he relates the story. As Black puts it, the book is "an account of men immersed in the outrage of war . . . there is comradeship, jealousy, compassion, and ruthlessness." (p. x) Black's own experiences as a Ranger in Korea with the 8th Airborne Ranger Company contributed to his successful revelation of this spirit and, at times, the book reads like a personal account rather than the well researched composition that it is.

The book begins with the activation of the 1st Ranger Battalion on 19 June 1942. Black explains the unit's composition in detail, listing the "charter" members by name, position, and weapon system. (p. 19) Black then details the training that the unit undertook in the Scottish highlands. The forced marches and physical tests that the volunteers had to endure were laborious and grueling. (Even worse were the English rations that the Rangers were forced to consume while in Scotland.) At the first sign of fatigue or weakness, a volunteer was released from the battalion and returned to his original unit. Though exact numbers were not offered, the battalion's attrition rate was deplorable, but those who did make it were fit to call "Rangers." The 1st Ranger Battalion received the dubious honor of participating in America's first assault on European soil. During the Dieppe Raid, a detachment of fifty Rangers fought alongside British Commandos. It was during this assault that the first American ground soldier killed a Nazi. Corporal Franklin Koons took out a German machine gunner and was decorated by both the U.S. and the British military for this distinction. (p. 39) On the bloody beaches of Dieppe, ironically amidst a military debacle, the U.S. Army Ranger legend began and the valiance with which he fought was echoed in both the U.S. papers and across the services of every nation.

Due to their superior training, ability to overcome improbable odds, and fighting spirit, the Rangers would go on to spearhead nearly every American led assault throughout the rest of the war-both in the European and Pacific theaters. Black meticulously relates each major battle that involved U.S. Rangers, making every effort to list, by name, the key individuals involved in each action. Rangers were involved in the raid at Arzew, the defense at Kasserine Pass, the beach landings on Sicily and Italy, the attack at Anzio, and the D-Day invasion. They continued to fight across Europe at Brest and, in the Pacific, at both Cabanatuan and on the island hopping campaigns of the Philippines. Black doesn't miss a bullet and, in doing so, comprises a book that becomes a "down and dirty" on American military involvement in the Second World War.

Unfortunately, as the pendulum of war began to swing towards the Allies and the pace of battle picked up, the infantryman was unable to keep up with the sweeping mechanized forces. It soon became obvious that an Allied victory was nearing and the need for these hard fighting foot soldiers became less and less. The Rangers followed along as fast as they could-some soldiers rode on the back of Allied vehicles-but soon the Ranger units became more of a liability than an asset. Before the fall of Berlin, nearly half of the Rangers had been released from the battlefield. The 1st Ranger Battalion, the first to form in June of 1942, was first to be disband, in August of 1944. Of the six battalions that fought in the war, only the 6th Ranger Battalion would see the end of the war-its soldiers busy fighting the Japanese in South East Asia.

While a detailed account of all Ranger exploits in the Second World War would take up volumes, Black has successfully compressed this material, highlighting each of the battalion's "handiwork," and assembled a manageable book that possibly represents the single best exposition on the topic. Included in this book is an outstanding appendices that, among other things, lists the name of every known Ranger that served in World War II. Additionally, the book makes effective use of various maps, photographs, military documentation, and includes an informative definitional section that explains the various weapon systems used by the Rangers.

The Achilles Heel of Black's Rangers in World War II is its endnote section. The book stands alone as an authoritative piece, yet the historian will find tribulations in attempting to trace Black's path down memory lane. The many first person interviews conducted with ex-Rangers are scantily documented and this absence unnecessarily detracts from the thorough research that Black obviously undertook.

Nonetheless, Black has outdone all others and in true Ranger spirit has "Led the Way" with an outstanding monograph that should be a part of every World War II enthusiast's collection.

Bob- I am bored at work so thought I would mess with this computer & see if I could find you. I have lost your home add & e-mail address- pls holler at me soon- havent spoken to you in a long time.Hope all is well out your way- I am doing fine- been 3yrs since Daddy passed-seems like yesterday- my e-mail is :dnapier@webtv.net Hope to hear from you soon! Always a Ranger daughter! Deby P.S.- Have you heard from Nick Tisak?

Benjamin Banneker:Surveyor, Astronomer, Publisher, Patriot, by Charles A. Cerami has expanded our knowledge of this renowned 18th century African American. To those familiar with the contributions of blacks to American society, Benjamin Banneker's accomplishments are well known. He was a free black man, son of an African, his grandmother, an indentured servant from England. He built a wooden clock using a pocket watch as a guide. Later on in life, he parlayed his scientific and mathematical skills into the creation of an almanac. He then went on to become an integral part of the team that surveyed the area that was to become the nation's capitol. He wrote letters to Thomas Jefferson critical of the latter's racist views, and even received a response. The author covers this ground well. We are aware of how stunning Banneker's achievements are, given that he was a black man living in a nation where the vast majority of black people toiled in slavery. Even a free black was a degraded, stigmatized creature in white eyes. The author, however, lifts Banneker out of this limiting context to elevate him into the company of truly original thinkers. Thus, Banneker becomes more than a brilliant black man who rose above his station to live the life of the mind, a pursuit which, if he were white, would not have garnered much attention. Banneker made an assertion that no one had made up that point (at least not with his degree of logic). He speculated on the existence of life on other worlds. The author presents an excerpt from Banneker's writings as proof that this humble black farmer was far ahead of his time. Indeed, such a revolutionary thought would not be adopted by scientists as a credible theory until well into the 20th century. Charles Cerami's work is of monumental importance because now we have a new insight into the depth of Benjamin Banneker's intellect. Hopefully, this book will be so widely read that Banneker's role as the man who memorized the plans to Washington, D.C. will not be his ultimate achievement in the popular imagination. Hopefully, scientists, historians and lay enthusiasts will recognize the significance of Banneker's thinking in regard to the possibility of life beyond our precious, little world.

I can't believe the genius of Benjamin Banneker, the man. I always knew his name through his famous letter to Thomas Jefferson. In the pages of this fascinating biography, I discovered his excellence in so many professions, especially astronomy. His speculations on light and stars were revolutionary and opened the door to modern astronomy. He is a true American hero.

Rube Foster-what an amazing man! Dr. Robert Cottrell's impeccably researched biography gives us insight into the evolution of an outstanding athlete, coach, manager, businessman, visionary, and co-founder of the Negro Leagues. In this book, we not only get a detailed look into the day-to-day life of a ballplayer (complete with box scores-balls, strikes, hits, walks, stolen bases, and outstanding plays). More importantly, we see the panorama of black ball (and white ball) in the early part of the 20th century as we barnstorm the country and Cuba with Rube and his various teams and teammates. This biography joins the pantheon of other works by Dr. Cottrell. In his earlier biographies of I.F. Stone, Nicholas Comfort, and Roger Baldwin, we saw sensitive yet balanced looks at strong-willed men in conflict with oppressive conservatism and prejudice in the areas of journalism, religion, and social injustice. Now, we are treated to the same spirited view of our nation's pastime and one of its unsung heroes. This book about Rube Foster provides us nothing less than a much needed revisionist's look at American history.

Rube Foster-what an amazing man! Dr. Robert Cottrell's impeccably researched biography gives us insight into the evolution of an outstanding athlete, coach, manager, businessman, visionary, and co-founder of the Negro Leagues. In this book, we not only get a detailed look into the day-to-day life of a ballplayer (complete with box scores-balls, strikes, hits, walks, stolen bases, and outstanding plays). More importantly, we see the panorama of black ball (and white ball) in the early part of the 20th century as we barnstorm the country and Cuba with Rube and his various teams and teammates. This biography joins the pantheon of other works by Dr. Cottrell. In his earlier biographies of I.F. Stone, Nicholas Comfort, and Roger Baldwin, we saw sensitive yet balanced looks at strong-willed men in conflict with oppressive conservatism and prejudice in the areas of journalism, religion, and social injustice. Now, we are treated to the same spirited view of our nation's pastime and one of its unsung heroes. This book about Rube Foster provides us nothing less than a much needed revisionist's look at American history.

George S. Schuyler was one of the premier black journalists of his, or any other, day. Between his own acerbic style and being published in The American Mercury, he was referred to as the Black Mencken. In addition, he wrote one great satirical novel, Black No More, and a fair amount of pulp fiction. Two of those pulp titles, The Black Internationale : Story of Black Genius Against the World and the sequel, Black Empire : An Imaginative Story of a Great New Civilization in Modern Africa, are reproduced here in one volume. Written under the pseudonym, Samuel I . Brooks, for a black weekly newspaper, The Pittsburgh Courier, these sixty two serial installments in an ongoing adventure story originally appeared between 1936 and 1938.

Reminiscent of Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu, Schuyler tells the story of Carl Slater, writer for the Harlem Blade, who accidentally witnesses the murder of a white woman. The black assailant forces Slater into a waiting car at gunpoint, whereupon he is drugged. When he wakens, the murderer reveals himself to be Dr. Henry Belsidus, leader of the Black Internationale, an elite organization of black professionals whom the Doctor plans to lead in his mission to liberate Africa and restore blacks to their rightful position of dominance on the world stage. He explains that the woman had been one of his agents and her murder was punishment for failure. It turns out that Slater was on a list of blacks whom Belsidus planned to eventually recruit to his cause, and now circumstances force him to choose between joining up or being killed. He joins.

Dr. Belsidus is clearly maniacal, but he is also possessed of a compelling vision :

My son, all great schemes appear mad in the beginning. Christians, Communists, Fascists and Nazis were at first called scary. Success made them sane. With brains, courage and wealth even the most fantastic scheme can become a reality. I have dedicated my life, Slater, to destroying white world supremacy. My ideal and objective is very frankly to cast down Caucasians and elevate the colored people in their places. I plan to do this by every means within my power. I intend to stop at nothing, Slater, whether right or wrong. Right is success. Wrong is failure. I will not fail because I am ruthless. Those who fail are them men who get sentimental, who weaken, who balk at a little bloodshed. Such vermin deserve to fail. Every great movement the world has ever seen has collapsed because it grew weak. I shall never become weak, nor shall I ever tolerate weakness around me. Weakness means failure, Slater, and I do not intend to fail.

In the ensuing chapters he realizes this vision, along the way utilizing such visionary technological wizardry as solar power, hydroponics and death rays, and such social measures as as his own new religion, the Church of Love. Carl Slater witnesses it all and--at the behest of Schuyler's editors and readers--falls in love with Patricia Givens, the beautiful aviatrix who commands the Black Internationale's Air Force. The serial ends with Belsidus and his followers triumphant and white Europe expelled from Africa.

Stylistically this is pretty standard fare, following the over-the-top, melodramatic, cliff-hanging, conventions of the pulp fiction formula. It's well written and exciting, though overwrought. What really makes it interesting though is it's politics. Schuyler, particularly late in life, was a conservative. He moved farther Right as he became more vehemently anti-Communist and finished his career writing for publications put out by the John Birch Society (see hyperlinked Essays below). Part of this evolution entailed becoming generally hostile to the Civil Rights movement and to African Nationalism, but apparently in the 1930's he was himself a Pan-Africanist, especially concerned with the fate of Ethiopia after the Italians invaded and with liberating Liberia. There's a tendency to dismiss black conservatives as somehow self-loathing, as if conservative values are necessarily at odds with the advancement of the black race. And you can see something of a dichotomy in Schuyler's writings if you take for instance one of his comments on Marcus Garvey, of whom he was generally skeptical :

Marcus Garvey has a vision. He sees plainly that everywhere in the Western and Eastern hemispheres the Negro, regardless of his religion or nationality, is being crushed under the heel of white imperialism and exploitation. Rapidly the population of the world is being aligned in two rival camps: white and black. The whites have arms, power, organization, wealth; the blacks have only their intelligence and their potential power. If they are to be saved, they must be organized so they can present united opposition to those who seek to continue their enslavement. (George S. Schuyler, writing in the Interstate Tattler, August 23, 1929)

and compare it to what he had to say about the success of Black Empire :

I have been greatly amused by the public enthusiasm for 'The Black Internationale,' which is hokum and hack work of the purest vein. I deliberately set out to crowd as much race chauvinism and sheer improbability into it as my fertile imagination could conjure. The result vindicates my low opinion of the human race. (George S. Schuyler, from a Letter to P.L. Prattis, April 4, 1937)

Taken at face value, he seems to be criticizing his black readership for enjoying stories based on the vision he had extolled in Garvey.

But perhaps this conflict is more easily reconciled than critics would have us believe. Throughout his career, Schuyler seems to have been entirely consistent in his hostility towards those who sought to speak for blacks. It is this general stance which explains his opposition to Garvey, Communists, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and so on. In Black Empire, he presents Belsidus as quite a monster, willing to use mass murder and near genocide to achieve his ends. It's easy to read the story as reflecting both his most treasured dream--the triumph of blacks over racial oppression--and his inherent pessimism about the leaders and means that would be required to achieve that goal.

At any rate, the story is great fun and Schuyler's personal conflicts only serve to add a few layers of tension. The reader is often unsure whether he's writing with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek or whether he's allowing characters to speak his own forbidden thoughts. That you can read it on various levels merely adds to the enjoyment. There's also a terrific Afterword by Robert A. Hill and R. Kent Rasmussen, from which I gleaned much of the information in this review. Altogether, it's a marvelous book and the Northeastern Library of Black Literature is to be applauded for restoring it to print. Schuyler's reputation among academics and intellectuals declined in direct proportion to his increasing conservatism, but his is a unique and valuable voice, deserving of revival.

GRADE : A-

This is an incredibly interesting (to say the least) story ofthe rise of a Black dictator who takes over Africa (and the Blackdiaspora). Sort of "The Turner Diaries" meets "TheSpook Who Sat By The Door." It is noteworthy that Schuyler (asthe notes in the introduction indicate) did not intend for this workto be taken seriously. But many did, and I'm sure that many modernAfrocentric readers would also.

Part II of the "Crazy Horse Chronicles" continues to enthrall. This vivid retelling of the life of Curly, later to become Crazy Horse, explains the early transition to adulthood for Curly and Little Mouse, who become Crazy Horse and Black Robe Buffalo Woman. They grow to maturity during the "Indian Wars" and Crazy Horse earns his name through battle glory. His painful experience of betrayal by family of Little Mouse drives him to forsake his holy name to become "Worm," or One Who Returns to Mother Earth. The bittersweet story of the love of Crazy Horse and Black Robe Buffalo Woman is passionate and fierce and gentle at the same time. Readers will eagerly devour this latest in the series and impatiently await the third in the series.

Nancy Lorraine, Reviewer

Richard Jepperson capably and affirmatively expands his Crazy Horse Chronicles with this touching, tender, fierce, reader-friendly book containing articulate, poetic text and original, beautiful illustrations. There are really only two kinds of books. And they are not children's books and grownups' books but good books and bad books. Black Robe Woman, Lakota Warrior, is most definitely among the former. It's excellent for kids but it is by no means exclusively for them but for all readers of worthy literature. Here is a book you will read to your children and to yourself, not once but over and over again.

Have you ever come to great a idea and gained great understanding in an instant and then break out in a cold sweat, due to the depth of that thought? And suddenly on day, just be browsing through the book store and just happen to pick up a book which carefully outlined your exact thought in black and white. Because that is what the case was with Mr.Wallace's book. Powerful!

A must read for any person looking to take the entrepreneurial plunge.