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American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm

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Overview

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.

Editorial Reviews

African-American heroes take center stage in American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm by Gail Buckley, adapted for younger readers by Tonya Bolden, from the author's adult book (with the same title). The volume spotlights the role of African-Americans from the Revolutionary War through the Gulf War, including Vaughn Love (who fought during the Spanish Civil War), Col. Fred V. Cherry, a POW in Vietnam, and Colin Powell, four-star general in Desert Storm. Among the women profiled: Maj. Charity Adams and Lt. Harriet Pickens, both of whom served in WWII, and Maj. Flossie Satcher, who served in Desert Storm. Direct quotes and a 16-page photo inset give the historical accounts a sense of urgency. -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of Gail Lumet Buckley

Gail Buckley is a journalist & the daughter of Lena Horne. Her family history - The Hornes - became an "American Masters" documentary, & she narrated a documentary on black American families for PBS. She has written for the "Los Angeles Times", "Vogue", the "New York Daily News", & "The New York Times". She lives in New York. 010

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Additional Info

Imprint

Random House

Filesize

4.69 MB

Number of Pages

608

eBook ISBN

9781588360267

Awards

  • Black Caucus of the America Library Association Award
  • Robert F. Kennedy Book Award

Excerpt from: American Patriots by Gail Lumet Buckley

Chapter 1
THE REVOLUTION

Slavery and Independence

I served in the Revolution, in General Washington's army. . . . I have stood in battle, where balls, like hail, were flying all around me. The man standing next to me was shot by my side-his blood spouted upon my clothes, which I wore for weeks. My nearest blood, except that which runs in my veins, was shed for liberty. My only brother was shot dead instantly in the Revolution. Liberty is dear to my heart-I cannot endure the thought, that my countrymen should be slaves.

-"Dr. Harris", a black Revolutionary veteran, in an address to the Congregational and Presbyterian Anti-Slavery Society of Francestown, New Hampshire, 1842.

Crispus Attucks: The First Martyr of the Revolution

"BLOODY MASSACRE, screamed the March 12, 1770, issue of the Massachusetts Gazette, Paul Revere's four-color illustrated broadsheet, depicting redcoats with muskets firing into a crowd of well-dressed Boston citizens. Four victims lie bloodied on the ground. One, closest to the soldiers, the only one dressed in rough seaman clothes instead of a waistcoat and three-cornered hat, lies in the center foreground in a pool of blood. The unhappy Sufferers, Revere wrote, were "Sam"l Gray, Sam l Maverick, James Caldwell, Crispus Attucks Killed. (Revere omitted Patrick Carr, an Irish leather worker, who was also killed.) Gray was a rope maker, Maverick an apprentice joiner, Caldwell a ship's mate; the seaman Attucks, killed on the Spot, two Balls entering his Breast, was described as born in Framingham, but lately belonging to New Providence [the Bahamas]. The victims would lie in state in Faneuil Hall. All the Bells tolled a solemn Peal when they were buried together in one vault in the middle burying-ground.

Calling himself Michael Johnson, Attucks, the son of an African father and a Massachusetts Natick Indian mother, had spent the past twenty years at sea, having run away to escape slavery. Ten pounds reward had been offered in 1750 by Deacon William Brown of Framingham for the return of -a Molatto Fellow, about 27 years of age, named Crispas, 6 Feet two Inches high, short, curl'd Hair, his Knees nearer together than common: had on a light colourýd Bearskin coat. In port in Boston on the night of March 5, 1770, Attucks was in a King Street tavern when an alarm bell was heard from the street's British sentry. When, leading a stick- and bat-wielding gang from the tavern, he discovered that the sentry was under "attack" only from snowball-throwing boys, he and his mob immediately took the side of the boys against the "Lobster Backs"-using heavy sticks instead of snowballs. Witnesses said that Attucks, striking the first blow, caused arriving British soldiers to open fire and hit eleven civilians-five of whom, including Attucks, were killed.