On Monday and Tuesday, February 22 and 23, 2010, MPT (a PBS station in Annapolis, MD) reruns the four hour film “For Love of Liberty: The Story of America’s Black Patriots”, directed by Frank Martin, with Halle Berry as on-camera host, and Avery Brooks as narrator. Many other well known Hollywood and public personalities appear, including Morgan Freeman, Alan Rickman, John Travolta, Mel Gibson, Susan Sarandon, Chris Cooper, James Garner, John Goodman, and Sam Elliot.
The website for the film is here.
The first hour covers the period from the Revolutionary War through the War Between the States. An African-American spy was instrumental in winning the Battle of Yorktown. During the War of 1812, many sailors were African American.
The film rather briefly covers the participation of African Americans in the Civil War, especially the battle for Richmond. After the war, during Reconstruction, southern states started chipping away at theoretical equality supposedly guaranteed by the 14th and other amendments, finally passing many Jim Crow laws. The practice of lynching would start, sometimes even making victims of soldiers.
During World War I, some commanders told white soldiers not to fraternize with black soldiers except for military purposes. One black soldier would win the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously from President George H. W. Bush, who would honor the man’s service for a cause greater than himself, despite not being treated equally.
At the beginning of World War II, the Navy at first wanted to relegate black sailors to menial positions.
The Marine Corps started accepting African American recruits in 1942, the first time since the Revolutionary War.
The film covered "Operation Firefly" which was to defend the West Coast from Japanese balloon attacks to start fires.
During the Battle of the Bulge, Eisenhower allowed some units to be integrated, a move that may have been critical for winning the battle. But black soldiers had to sign away previously earned rights.
Tokyo Rose broadcast propaganda exploiting the lack of support for civil rights at home for black soldiers. The same propaganda would occur from Communists later during the Vietnam war.
After World War II, president Truman would order the military integrated. The military had a policy not to “intermingle” the races out of concern over “unit cohesion”. (Sound familiar?)
African Americans bonded into units during Vietnam and often lot their lives sacficially. The military draft, with its student deferment structure, caused a disproportionate proportion of African Americans to be drafted and put into infrantry and sent into combat.
When I took Basic Training at Fort Jackson, SC starting in February 1968, an Afrian American, who said he wanted to go to medical school, was our trainee squad leader.
In the late 1970s on, real progress occurred in providing opportunities for African Americans to move up in the military, leading eventually to the appointment of Colin Powell as Chairman of the JCS.
The film moves on to cover the Persian Gulf War, and then the events (including the USS Cole) that led to September 11, 2001, and then to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Finally the film covers the inauguration of Barack Obama as the first African American Commander in Chief.
It may be politically effective to show the film as the debate on “don’t ask don’t tell” winds. It's also interesting that as the film re-airs, Defense Secretary Gates announces that he will provide the capability for women to serve on submarines and in almost all combat jobs.
At the very end, Halle Berry asks, the right question is not "would the African American fight, but why?"
0 comments:
Post a Comment