AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDY

African American Study

Abstract

In this research we try to discover the thought of “African American Struggle” in a holistic context. The main focus of the research is on “African American Leadership” and its relation with “Freedom Movement”. The research also examines many features of “African American Leadership” and tries to gauge its effect on “West”. Lastly the study explains a variety of aspects which are responsible for the above stated topic.

Table of Content

Role of African American Military in the Development of the West4

Role of African American Founders and Its Impact on the Development of the West5

Marcus Garvey6

Comparison of Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X7

African American Study

Role of African American Military in the Development of the West

In the United States Five thousand black men fought for the colonies during the American Revolution. Twenty thousand others fought for the British. Although whites were reluctant to arm blacks, African-American soldiers had already seen service during the French and Indian Wars (1689-1763) and in various colonial militias (Buckley, 2001).

Both free blacks and slaves participated in the War of 1812. Ten to 25 percent of Oliver Hazard Perry's squadron at the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie was African-American sailors, and others served in British crews. New York's state militia contained two black regiments, and in Pennsylvania, Absalom Jones and Richard Allen organized a force of 2,500 blacks to defend Philadelphia in case of British attack. Andrew Jackson utilized the services of at least one black battalion at the Battle of New Orleans, as well as the mixed-race crew of pirate Jean Lafitte.

More than 200,000 black men served as Union soldiers and sailors during the Civil War; an estimated 38,000 died. Thousands of others were wounded or listed as missing in action. Twenty-four men received the Congressional Medal of Honor. More than 350,000 African-American men served in the armed forces during the war, 100,000 of them overseas. In 1918, Henry Johnson of the famous 369th Infantry became the first U.S. soldier awarded the Croix de Guerre, France's highest military decoration (Buckley, 2001)

The military remained segregated, although there was an increase in the number of black officers. Famous black heroes included Dorie Miller, who earned the Navy Cross for his actions at Pearl Harbor, and pilot Leonard Roy Harmon, for whom a navy ship is named. Prejudice continued to be a serious problem. In the 1991 Persian Gulf War, 20 percent of troops in the combat zone were black. At that time, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was Colin Powell, an African American.



Role of African American Founders and Its Impact on the Development of the West

Leadership is one of the most important resources in politics. Leadership is probably more important in African-American politics than in American politics generally because the black community, as an oppressed minority group, has much less power than the dominant white majority group. Therefore, effective leadership and leaders have always been important resources in the struggle for the freedom and equality of black people in America because it is ...