Synopses & Reviews
American Patriots is one of the great untold stories in American history. There have been books on individual black soldiers, but this is the first to tell the full story of the black American military experience, starting with the Revolution and culminating with Desert Storm.
The best histories are about more than facts and events - they capture the spirit that drives men to better their lives and to demand of themselves the highest form of sacrifice. That spirit permeates Gail Buckleys dramatic, deeply moving, and inspiring book. Youll meet the men who fought in the decisive engagements of the Revolution, the legendary Buffalo soldiers, and the heroic black regiments of the Civil War. Youll meet some of Americas greatest patriots men who fought in the First and Second World Wars when their country denied them access to equipment and training, segregated the ranks, and did all it could to keep them off the battlefield. Youll meet the heroes of Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm. And youll meet two families, the Lews and the Pierces, who have served in every American engagement since the Revolution.
FDR used to say that Americanism was a matter of the mind and heart, not of race and ancestry. With photographs throughout and dozens of original interviews with veterans, American Patriots is a tribute to the black American men and women who fought and gave their lives in the service of that ideal.
Review
"Black Americans have participated in every American war, to the benefit of us all. Despite overt discrimination and crude racism, they produced many heroes and did great deeds. This is a triumphant American success story, from slaves in the Revolutionary War to Colin Powell as the top military man of Desert Storm. Gail Buckley tells it well. She has done the research, done the interviews, read the literature, thought about her subject, and knows how to write, how to engage her reader. A triumph."
-- Stephen E. Ambrose, author of D-Day
Review
"Gail Buckley has given us a powerful account of a long and shamefully overlooked part of American military history - the heroic efforts of African Americans to serve honorably and courageously in the armed forces when they were subjected to the worst kinds of racism. The full story is at once uplifting and deeply disturbing. We should all be grateful to Gail for bringing us these stories and to the people about whom she writes for their determined patriotism."
-- Tom Brokaw, author of The Greatest Generation
Review
"A compulsive and humbling history of nobility in the face of American prejudice, and courage in the face of America's enemies. Buckley writes with grace and authority and an almost unearthly restraint."
-- John Le Carre
Review
"Deftly handled... An extraordinary history... Shows the deep hypocrisy of a nation that was willing to let black soldiers fight even as it consistently denied them equal rights and equal recognition... Buckley has written a book to fill a significant gap in our history. She has recounted a remarkable human drama, one of struggle, betrayal, and ultimate redemption."
-- Catherine S. Manegold, The New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
In an exploration of black American military heroes from Crispus Attucks to Colin Powell, Buckley presents a history of bravery, valor, patriotism, and extraordinary personal courage both on and off the battlefield.
About the Author
Gail Lumet Buckley is a journalist and the daughter of Lena Horne. Her family history — The Hornes — became an American Masters documentary, and she narrated a documentary on black American families for PBS. She has written for the Los Angeles Times, Vogue, the New York Daily News, and The New York Times. She lives in New York.
Reading Group Guide
American Patriots is one of the great untold stories in American history. There have been books on individual black soldiers, but this is the first to tell the full story of the black American military experience, starting with the Revolution and culminating with Desert Storm.
The best histories are about more than facts and events — they capture the spirit that drives men to better their lives and to demand of themselves the highest form of sacrifice. That spirit permeates Gail Buckley’s dramatic, deeply moving, and inspiring book. You’ll meet the men who fought in the decisive engagements of the Revolution, the legendary Buffalo soldiers, and the heroic black regiments of the Civil War. You’ll meet some of America’s greatest patriots — men who fought in the First and Second World Wars when their country denied them access to equipment and training, segregated the ranks, and did all it could to keep them off the battlefield. You’ll meet the heroes of Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm. And you’ll meet two families, the Lews and the Pierces, who have served in every American engagement since the Revolution.
FDR used to say that Americanism was a matter of the mind and heart, not of race and ancestry. With photographs throughout and dozens of original interviews with veterans,
American Patriots is a tribute to the black American men and women who fought and gave their lives in the service of that ideal.
1. Midway through the Revolutionary War, blacks comprised 15 percent of the Continental Army–yet many nineteenth-century abolitionists like Frederick Douglass and John Greenleaf Whittier refused to celebrate July 4 as Independence Day. Consider the reasons for their refusal. Why did they, at the same time, continue to look to the Revolution for inspiration and to call for a “second revolution”?
2. By the end of the Civil War, blacks made up 10 to 12 percent of the Union Army. Describe these black fighters. Whom did they fight under? And why, then, did Lincoln’s War Department insist on calling the Civil War a “white man’s war”? Contrast Lincoln’s description of the Civil War as a war about “union” with the South’s belief that it was about slavery. Which was it?
3. How did the former Confederacy bring about its own Reconstruction? Explain why General Carl Schurz’s 1865 report displeased President Andrew Johnson. Evaluate how the Reconstruction benefited poor whites as well as blacks, and how black military participation paved the way to change in political and civil rights.
4. Discuss the reasons behind Congress’s creation of the first permanent black units in a peacetime standing army. What did these units contribute to the “New Army”?
5. Describe how the slave system gave the military a particularly Southern mind-set. How did this affect the first blacks sent to West Point and Annapolis–particularly Henry O. Flipper and Johnson Whittaker? What lessons can we learn from Flipper’s story?
6. Buckley calls Southern revisionism the means by which the South “won” the peace. Examine how revisionism affected blacks in the First World War. Explain why black Americans fought under a French flag. How did their military experience affect their behavior back home?
7. World War II brought extraordinary changes in black military opportunities despite a total and enforced segregation in all branches of the service. How did civilians like Eleanor Roosevelt, Walter White of the NAACP, A. Philip Randolph of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and members of the black press influence this change? What was FDR’s contribution to these changes? What inspired blacks to fight for freedoms abroad that they did not enjoy at home? Drawing on specific examples, examine how black members of the Tuskegee Airmen, the Montford Point Marines, and the 6888 explained their own decisions.
8. Analyze President Harry Truman’s decision to desegregate the military in the summer of 1948. Was he motivated by principle or by politics? How did the military respond?
9. At the start of the Korean War, the 24th Infantry was the last all-black unit in the Army. Trace its path from winning the first battle of the war, and the first Medal of Honor, to being deactivated for cowardice. Why was the 24th a scapegoat for both integrationists and segregationists? Explain how Korea-era McCarthyism affected the military career of Sergeant Edward Carter, World War II winner of the second highest military honor. How did President Clinton put Edward Carter back into history?
10. Why was the 1965 Army known as “the Kennedy Class”? Discuss Colin Powell’s belief in the early 1960s that the military offered the best career in America for an ambitious young black man. What happened between 1965 and 1968 that led to the “breakdown” of the U.S. Army? Examine how military changes reflected changes in American society.
11. Evaluate the all-volunteer army and the war in the Persian Gulf as antidotes to Vietnam. Compare Operation Desert Storm to the Spanish-American War. In what ways was the Gulf War historic and unique? What values and lessons instilled by the military are most applicable to civilian life? Discuss how the military, once one of the most racist institutions in America, became one of the greatest places of opportunity.
American Patriots is one of the great untold stories in American history. There have been books on individual black soldiers, but this is the first to tell the full story of the black American military experience, starting with the Revolution and culminating with Desert Storm.
The best histories are about more than facts and events — they capture the spirit that drives men to better their lives and to demand of themselves the highest form of sacrifice. That spirit permeates Gail Buckley’s dramatic, deeply moving, and inspiring book. You’ll meet the men who fought in the decisive engagements of the Revolution, the legendary Buffalo soldiers, and the heroic black regiments of the Civil War. You’ll meet some of America’s greatest patriots — men who fought in the First and Second World Wars when their country denied them access to equipment and training, segregated the ranks, and did all it could to keep them off the battlefield. You’ll meet the heroes of Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm. And you’ll meet two families, the Lews and the Pierces, who have served in every American engagement since the Revolution.
FDR used to say that Americanism was a matter of the mind and heart, not of race and ancestry. With photographs throughout and dozens of original interviews with veterans,
American Patriots is a tribute to the black American men and women who fought and gave their lives in the service of that ideal.
1. Midway through the Revolutionary War, blacks comprised 15 percent of the Continental Army–yet many nineteenth-century abolitionists like Frederick Douglass and John Greenleaf Whittier refused to celebrate July 4 as Independence Day. Consider the reasons for their refusal. Why did they, at the same time, continue to look to the Revolution for inspiration and to call for a “second revolution”?
2. By the end of the Civil War, blacks made up 10 to 12 percent of the Union Army. Describe these black fighters. Whom did they fight under? And why, then, did Lincoln’s War Department insist on calling the Civil War a “white man’s war”? Contrast Lincoln’s description of the Civil War as a war about “union” with the South’s belief that it was about slavery. Which was it?
3. How did the former Confederacy bring about its own Reconstruction? Explain why General Carl Schurz’s 1865 report displeased President Andrew Johnson. Evaluate how the Reconstruction benefited poor whites as well as blacks, and how black military participation paved the way to change in political and civil rights.
4. Discuss the reasons behind Congress’s creation of the first permanent black units in a peacetime standing army. What did these units contribute to the “New Army”?
5. Describe how the slave system gave the military a particularly Southern mind-set. How did this affect the first blacks sent to West Point and Annapolis–particularly Henry O. Flipper and Johnson Whittaker? What lessons can we learn from Flipper’s story?
6. Buckley calls Southern revisionism the means by which the South “won” the peace. Examine how revisionism affected blacks in the First World War. Explain why black Americans fought under a French flag. How did their military experience affect their behavior back home?
7. World War II brought extraordinary changes in black military opportunities despite a total and enforced segregation in all branches of the service. How did civilians like Eleanor Roosevelt, Walter White of the NAACP, A. Philip Randolph of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and members of the black press influence this change? What was FDR’s contribution to these changes? What inspired blacks to fight for freedoms abroad that they did not enjoy at home? Drawing on specific examples, examine how black members of the Tuskegee Airmen, the Montford Point Marines, and the 6888 explained their own decisions.
8. Analyze President Harry Truman’s decision to desegregate the military in the summer of 1948. Was he motivated by principle or by politics? How did the military respond?
9. At the start of the Korean War, the 24th Infantry was the last all-black unit in the Army. Trace its path from winning the first battle of the war, and the first Medal of Honor, to being deactivated for cowardice. Why was the 24th a scapegoat for both integrationists and segregationists? Explain how Korea-era McCarthyism affected the military career of Sergeant Edward Carter, World War II winner of the second highest military honor. How did President Clinton put Edward Carter back into history?
10. Why was the 1965 Army known as “the Kennedy Class”? Discuss Colin Powell’s belief in the early 1960s that the military offered the best career in America for an ambitious young black man. What happened between 1965 and 1968 that led to the “breakdown” of the U.S. Army? Examine how military changes reflected changes in American society.
11. Evaluate the all-volunteer army and the war in the Persian Gulf as antidotes to Vietnam. Compare Operation Desert Storm to the Spanish-American War. In what ways was the Gulf War historic and unique? What values and lessons instilled by the military are most applicable to civilian life? Discuss how the military, once one of the most racist institutions in America, became one of the greatest places of opportunity.