Eye for an Eye: The Role of Armed Resistance ... - Freedom Archives

spontaneous revolts at nearly all of the Army facilities in the South.
Sometimes Black soldiers would obtain weapons to confront local racists
or the military police . One example of Black armed resistance in the U .S . military
took place in 1941 . At Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina, a gun battle
occurred between military police and Black soldiers . This battle was the result of
Black complaints of military police brutality. One Black soldier, Ned Thurman,
was attacked by white military police after objecting to the beating of a Black
soldier by MP's . A struggle ensued and Thurman was able to wrestle a weapon
from his attackers . At the end of the melee, Thurman and one of the MP's were
both fatally wounded from gunfire . That evening all Black soldiers at Fort Bragg,
whether involved in the incident or not, were forced to stand all night with both
hands above their heads . At Brookley Field, Alabama, Black soldiers and MP's
exchanged gunfire, after the Blacks forcibly removed MP's and a white civilian
from segregated Black military barracks . The MP's and the white civilian were in
the Black soldier's barracks searching for a Black soldier who had alledgedly
robbed the civilian . The black soldiers response was fueled by a belief that any
accused soldier would be persecuted by the local authorities, whom they consid-
ered racist. In this incident over one thousand rounds of ammunition were
exchanged, with one bystander, a Black soldier not involved in the incident,
critically wounded . After the smoke cleared nine Black privates were court
martialed, convicted, and sentenced to twenty five to sixteen years . Another
incident, at Camp Clairborne in Louisiana, led to the court martialing and convic-
tion of Black soldiers on charges of mutiny, disobedience, attempts to seize arms .
and kidnapping two officers . In this case Black soldiers seized weapons and