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Blacks in American Wars

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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.