Black Resistance and the U. S. Army in the 1800s

Session Submission Type: Panel Session

Abstract

This panel brings together papers that discuss how African Americans, free and enslaved, interacted with the U.S. Army and state militias prior to, during, and after the Civil War in the struggle to end slavery and empower themselves as citizens. The papers detail instances where Blacks worked with the Army and, at times, against it, to achieve those ends. The presentations also show how that experience has been both embraced and erased over time by the Army. This panel thus provides a window into the intersection of Black resistance and the U.S. Army. The commenter for this panel is Dr. Adrian R. Lewis, University of Kansas, one of the foremost military historians in the United States. The chair and presenters are official historians and a museum professional with the U.S. Army and other Department of Defense entities, but the scholarship they present is often drawn from work outside their official duties.

Sub Unit

• 108th ASALH Annual Conference

Chair

• Camillia Rodgers, US Army Tank and Automotive Command

Individual Presentations

• "Kill them All!": The Louisiana Native Guards and the Origins of Black Militaristic Resistance - Anthony J Cade, US Air National Guard History Office

• Black Resistance: Black Service in Community-based Volunteer/Militia Units and the Loss of Lineage Connections to Black Citizen Soldiers of the Civil War and Reconstruction - Joseph Miller, National Guard Bureau History Office

Commentator

• Adrian Lewis, University of Kansas

Sponsor

• Jon T Hoffman, US Army Center of Military History