Lynching in America

The Myth of Racial Inferiority and the Black Soldier
Throughout our country’s history, African Americans have looked hopefully to military
service as a way to achieve racial equality and opportunity. 5 But the dream that donning a
military uniform and fighting for national honor would earn black soldiers respect and
human dignity conflicted with the status black people in America had held for centuries —
and often resulted in disappointment.
The enslavement of black people in the United States for more than 200 years built
wealth, opportunity, and prosperity for millions of white Americans. At the same time,
American slavery assigned to black people a lifelong status of bondage and servitude based
on race, and created a myth of racial inferiority to justify the racial hierarchy. Under this
racist belief system, whites were hard working, smart, and morally advanced, while black
people were dumb, lazy, child-like, and uncivilized.
The idea that black people were naturally and permanently inferior to white people became
deeply rooted in individuals’ minds, state and federal laws, and national institutions.
This ideology grew so strong that it survived the abolition of slavery and evolved into new
systems of racial inequality and abuse. In the period from 1877 to 1950, it took the form of
lynching and racial terror.
For a century after emancipation, African American servicemen and the black community
at large “staked much of their claims to freedom and equality on their military service,
and had cited it as a vindication of African American manhood.” 6 Fighting for democracy
was emblematic of the equality African Americans desired, and by serving their country,
black veterans displayed their attachment to the nation and commitment to American values.
In the face of this persistent racial hierarchy, and despite being denied full citizenship,
many African Americans fought for the United States and for the aspiration that conditions
would improve. 7 Instead, black soldiers
The dream that donning a military
uniform and fighting for national
honor would earn black soldiers
respect and human dignity
conflicted with the status black
people in America had held for
centuries — and often resulted in
disappointment.
who served in the armed forces from the
Civil War to World War II, during the
height of racial terror and violence, faced
hatred and racism even in “peace” time.
On the other side of African Americans’
hopes were whites’ fears that black
veterans asserting and demanding equality
would disrupt the social order built on
white supremacy and the racialized economic
order from which many benefitted.
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