At the Front.
From the Beginning.
From Crispus Attucks on King Street in 1770 to the present day — African Americans have fought, bled, and died in every war this nation has waged. This is their record.
The first American martyr was a Black man.
On March 5, 1770 — six years before the Declaration of Independence — Crispus Attucks, a free Black man and former slave, stepped to the front of a crowd facing British soldiers on King Street in Boston. He was the first to fall. The Boston Massacre became the catalyst for revolution. The first American martyr for liberty was not a white colonist.
When war came, approximately 5,000 Black soldiers served in the Continental Army alongside white Patriots. They fought at Bunker Hill, at Trenton, at Yorktown. The spy James Armistead Lafayette provided intelligence that contributed directly to the British surrender at Yorktown — the decisive engagement of the war. He was enslaved at the time. He received his freedom years later, through an act of the Virginia legislature.
“The Revolution was not merely white men in wigs arguing about taxes. It was Crispus Attucks dying in the snow. It was 5,000 Black soldiers crossing the Delaware.”
Two Americas — ERA III Documentation180,000 soldiers. 10% of the Union Army. Largely erased from the history.
When the Union Army finally allowed Black men to enlist in 1863, 180,000 responded — 10% of the entire Union Army. They served in the United States Colored Troops (USCT), fighting in over 400 engagements. They were paid less than white soldiers. They were executed if captured. They fought anyway.
At Chaffin’s Farm on September 29, 1864, fourteen Black soldiers earned the Medal of Honor in a single day — the largest single-day award in Medal of Honor history. At Battery Wagner, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry charged a fortified Confederate position knowing the assault was likely suicidal. Sergeant William Harvey Carney carried the flag to the parapet with both hands shot. He never let it touch the ground.
“More white soldiers lived because Black soldiers fought and died alongside them. The debt was never acknowledged. The history was partially erased.”
Two Americas — ERA III Documentation191 days in the trenches. Zero Medals of Honor — at the time.
The 369th Infantry Regiment — the Harlem Hellfighters — served 191 consecutive days in the French trenches, more than any other American unit in the war. They were assigned to the French Army because the American Expeditionary Forces refused to place Black soldiers in American combat units. France awarded them the Croix de Guerre. America gave them a parade — and then Jim Crow.
Henry Johnson, a private from Albany, New York, single-handedly fought off a German raiding party of over twenty men in the Argonne Forest, suffering 21 wounds in the process. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre by France. He received no American recognition. He died in poverty in 1929. The United States awarded him the Medal of Honor 97 years later, in 2015.
“The jazz that would define the twentieth century reached Europe from the trenches of the Western Front — carried by James Reese Europe and the regimental band of the 369th Infantry.”
Two Americas — ERA V DocumentationZero Medals of Honor awarded to Black soldiers during the war. Every one came decades later.
Doris Miller — a messman aboard the USS West Virginia — manned an anti-aircraft gun at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, despite having no gunnery training. He shot down at least two Japanese aircraft. He received the Navy Cross — not the Medal of Honor — and was transferred back to kitchen duty.
The Tuskegee Airmen flew over 15,000 combat missions and never lost a bomber they were assigned to escort to enemy fire. The 761st Tank Battalion fought through the Battle of the Bulge and helped relieve Bastogne. The Red Ball Express, 75% Black drivers, ran supply lines across France making Patton’s advance possible. None of them were considered for the Medal of Honor at the time.
“In World War II, no Medal of Honor was awarded contemporaneously to any Black soldier. Zero. All seven WWII recipients were honored in 1997 — fifty-two years after the war ended.”
Two Americas — Medal of Honor Suppression RecordIntegration came. Recognition still lagged.
President Truman desegregated the military by executive order in 1948 — Executive Order 9981. Black soldiers in Korea and Vietnam fought in integrated units for the first time. They died at disproportionate rates. In Vietnam, Black soldiers made up 12.6% of the military but accounted for 14.9% of combat deaths in the early years of the war.
Sergeant Alwyn Cashe ran into a burning Bradley Fighting Vehicle three times in Iraq in 2005 to pull his soldiers out, his uniform on fire. He died of his wounds seventeen days later. He received the Medal of Honor in 2021, 17 years after his death, from President Biden.
Honor
The Suppressed Record
Of the 98 Medals of Honor awarded to African American service members across all conflicts, the majority were delayed — by years, by decades, by more than a century — due to documented racial discrimination in the awards process. Many recipients never knew they had been recommended. Many recommendations were simply lost.
In World War II, no Medal of Honor was awarded contemporaneously to any Black soldier. Zero. All seven WWII recipients were honored in 1997.
The Military Record in Our Backyard
The record is incomplete.
We are completing it.
This page documents the confirmed military record. Fifteen additional entries are in research and drafting — from Crispus Attucks to the post-9/11 wars. Every entry will include Chicago-style citations, primary sources, and NC local connections where documentable.