A History of Race Relations in the United States Navy
Eric Tavares
University of Northern Colorado
Abstract
Race relations in the United States Navy have had a long and rocky history. Although there is no denying progress has been made, especially in today’s Navy, it wasn’t always the case. Black sailors have honorably served in the American Revolution, however records by race weren’t then, and they continued to serve in the Navy up to this very day. (Williams, 2001) Since the American Revolution though, they have suffered from bigotry, segregation and outright racism from their white counterparts as well. This research paper is going to give a brief history of racism that black sailors suffered from the American
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This is valuable to the academic community because these issues are not as known throughout the civilian world. Most people know about the civil rights era of the 60’s and the movements led by Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcom X; however, the Navy had its civil rights and equality issues as well, and it is not widely known and this research paper is going to shed some light on the subject.
Review of Literature
Race relations in the United States Navy have had a long and rocky history. This history includes many forms of bigotry and racism against minorities of all colors. It ranges from de jure segregation such as when military units were segregated prior to President Truman’s Executive Order 9981, which desegregated the Military to outright race riots such as what happened on the USS Kitty Hawk in 1972. While this research paper focuses on a historical review of how the Navy has handled racial relations, and how it has corrected and continues to this day to improve race relations.
African Americans have a long and distinguished history of service in the United States Navy, such as manning gunboats during the American Revolution, to honorably serving during both World Wars, and they continue to serve today (Williams, 2001). However, during their time of service, black sailors have suffered the humiliations and injustices of segregation, bigotry, and institutionalized racism. Since the Civil War, African Americans were forced to serve in segregated units until
And still, at the end of the day, war ventures regularly filled their most humble and hazardous positions with dark workers, much of the time on night shifts and in janitorial openings. African American ladies endured both racial and sexual orientation segregation, so they needed to contend energetically even to enter gifted spots on the creation line in air ship, shipyard work, and other well-paying war
Ultimately, the narrative of systematic oppression defines black history in America, yet the systematic oppression from the past caused cultural impediments that combined with systematic oppression in today’s society affect the black community presently. Constantly, the media portrays black people through mostly negative lenses as they’re depicted as having no class, being too aggressive, or through the most typical and praised roles of being slaves or nannies to their employer’s children. Similarly, the wealth gap between black people and other races still exists as a remnant of the injustices black people faced in the past. Furthermore, police brutality continues to occur with little consequences to the officers who attack black people for
No matter how good the Tuskegee Airmen are they always faced hard times. The Tuskegee Airmen were some of the best pilots in the U.S. Air Force due to the combination of pre-war experience and the personal drive of those accepted for training they always continue to have to face racism (Francis and Caso, 1997). The Tuskegee Airmen’s combary recond did much to quiet those directly involved in the group and people normally requested the Tuskegee Airmen because of their great record (Franic and Caso, 1997). Even though the Tuskegee Airmen had an amazing combat record other units still continued to harass them (Francis and Caso, 1997). After the hard times of segregation in the military was ended by President Harry S. Truman with Executive Order
The African-American community has endured a notable amount of troublesome tribulations, primarily in cultural identity. The wide array of challenges that minorities undergo when classifying a specific race is illogical, and rather insane. The struggle, hassle, and strain placed on minorities for embracing their identity will continuously be stereotyped or judged by a non-oppressed individual, or better yet our modern society. The ongoing list of imperfections a minority is labeled with when classifying their race, ensures being a minority is an undesirable feature or demographic. African-Americans constantly receives disapproval and hatred, along with a long record of wrong-doings that have been done to people of color. Generally, the outward appearance of an individual of color could possibly suffer from racial profiling, mass incarceration, brutality, police brutality, and exploitation inequalities. The negative suppositions, hypotheses, and assumptions that African-American people group receive, is essentially outstanding as prejudice.
Although the negative treatment of African Americans outweighs the positive treatment, neither should go unrecognized. It was a shock to learn that there were African American police officers during this period. This newspaper article is captivating because it demonstrates a positive part of history that most may not know existed in this era. Ultimately, this article relates the class discussion about the silences found in history because it reveals a silence of African American
Studies in the 80’s have shown that a greater percentage of blacks and females could not successfully complete the FTO program compared to white male officers (Doerner, 2012). If this was based on unfairly treating blacks and females during the training, then the concern is that racism exists and much time and money has been wasted getting the rookie officers to this point (Doerner, 2012). This would also have a negative impact on any affirmative action efforts. However, Doerner conducted an extensive study in 1989 of over 300,000 ratings and concluded that white FTO’s did not unfairly treat black rookies and male FTO’s did not unfairly use different standards for female rookie officers (Doerner, 2012). Further investigation discovered that blacks struggled in passing radio use, legal knowledge, and report writing, which was surprising as they were required to have a 2-year college degree (Doerner, 2012). Changes to the demographic unbalancing of FTO instructors, lengths of phases being increased, and lessening the expectations of the program all were implemented to overcome the concerns of affirmative actions and barriers (Doerner,
During World War II, young African American sailors loaded ammunition in the Navy. These men went properly trained and later on this would come as a blessing and a curse. At this time segregation ruled the minds of million in the country and in the U.S. Army. One unfaithful evening, July 17, 1944, a horrific explosion shook the dock of Port Chicago, California. Obliterating more than 244 sailors and injuring hundreds more. The blast destroyed the base, ships, and damaged the small town of Port Chicago. It was so bad you could hear the blast miles away. Those who survived were ordered back to loading ammunition. After more than 300 refused to go back to work until biased and hazardous conditions were addressed and put to rest. Many of these
Both services seek to ensure that, in terms of race and ethnicity, the group of officers commissioned in the year 2000 roughly reflects the overall population: 12 percent African American, 12 percent Hispanic, and 5 percent Asian. Department of the Navy officials point out that this represents a significantly more aggressive goal than had been the case, when the focus for comparison had been on college graduates; the more aggressive goal implies vigorous outreach and other efforts. Moreover, the Navy and the Marine Corps have set specific year-by-year targets for meeting the 12/12/5 goal.” (1995) When taking affirmative action, one must be careful not to establish quotas. This would start to become the glass ceiling, glass walls, or glass escalator. When a corporation, military, or business starts to promote unqualified minorities to fill a quota, that is just a bad and discriminatory as being racist or profiling.
Race relations in the United States have never been perfect, and with the inauguration of the country’s first black president, most people believed that race relations would improve. Then came Ferguson. Then came Baltimore. Then came the murder of more than 350 unarmed blacks by police officers in 2015. 35% of Americans are “worried a great deal” about racial relations in the United States―double what it was in 2014 (Norman). Since information and breaking news is so easy to share with people in this age, news of these killings spread much faster. These problems have been around forever, but the issue has never been broadcasted on the scale it is now. US citizens, and blacks, in particular, are upset with the current criminal justice system;
For African American officers, they have a particular source of stress stemming from the loyal to the department and the obligation to their race. African Americans and police relations has always been strained due to years of racial discrimination. It is within black culture that blacks look out for one another in times of racial-motivated situations. In the blacks’ perspective, police officers are racist, biased and untrustworthy. It is suggested that black officers are considered traitors due to wearing the badge or when involved in police actions against their own race (Dulaney, 1996).
Our nation struggles with many things, including internal strife as well as external physical brawls. America is known for its ever increasing debt and housing many struggling Americans. However, there is one thing we persistently fail to change: racial injustice. Try as we might, age old sentiments have ingrained themselves into the minds of many, preventing the change we require. It is a war we have fought for many centuries, hoping to see a change that has yet to occur. As time has gone on, some ideas have never left despite the progress towards moral justice.
The force of migration was unique in American history. In the mid 1500s, European mariners started bringing colored Africans to America as slaves. The Africans were brought over by ship where 1 out of every 5 captives died by time the ship got to the Atlantic seacoast. The slaves were chained below docks in very cramped spaces while they were being transported. When they reached America they were auctioned off to owners who used them primarily as plantation workers. Slave owners had the right to harshly punish them and break up families by selling off family members. Slavery was a tough time for African Americans but more so a significant event in the American history. Around the 17th and 18th centuries is when some blacks started
While what was going on oversees is known commandingly today, many people today do not know about this treatment that was occurring in the homeland. The author’s main argument is that instuitionalized racism continued despite the president’s effort with installing the FEPC. What is learned from this document is that racism still occurred in the workplace in the war. African Americans were discriminated in use of bathrooms, were raped by men, and the presidents FEPC did little to help the problems at hand. I feel the author definitely helps us better understand American history with this document. Before reading this I personally did not know about the racism occurring during this time, but now I have learned that African American men and women continued to be treated very poorly during the
Race relations is an issue that has littered American history with examples of discrimination, alienation, and unjust treatment of minorities. Before World War II, there was arguably more discrimination and racial tension in the U.S. than today but that is not to say that the issues have vanished. Even in post-WWII America, racial distrust ran amuck with the installation of internment camps and growing racial discrimination against blacks in the South during the mid-20th century. Mistreatment of minority groups sparking racial distrust in society are evident in BARTOLOMEO VANZETTI, Last Statement to the Court of Massachusetts (1927) and GORDON HIRABAYASHI, Why I Refused to Register for Evacuation (1942). These documents entail statements from
Prejudice within the military can be found when service members of racial and sexual minorities are being the target of favoritism. Back in 1948, anti-Black approaches were widespread movements in the U.S. military, what made President Truman order an end to the racial discrimination in the armed forces. Even though Whites' approaches toward Blacks in the military have transformed in the past fifty years, racial prejudice is still common throughout the military society. Moreover, substantial numbers of heterosexual service members expressed negative attitudes toward gay men and lesbians (Race).