Footsteps articles from September 2003

Footsteps archives from September 2003

A history of service.
September 1, 2003... African Americans have participated in every war in which the United States has been involved. While their accomplishments were not always officially recognized or documented, their courage and valor did not go unnoticed. The accounts that...

The Battle of New Orleans.
September 1, 2003... The Battle of New Orleans was one of the most significant battles in American history. Fought at Chalmette Plantation, Louisiana, it was the last major land battle of the War of 1812 and the last time the United States and Great Britain fought...

Descendants: Isiah Edwards, Jr.
September 1, 2003... Every January, Isiah Edwards, Jr., takes a journey back in time to the year 1814 and the Battle of New Orleans. He dons the uniform of a private and becomes a member of a militia (company) of black soldiers--one of the "Free Men of Color," as...

Fighting for freedom.
September 1, 2003... When the Civil War broke out in 1861, few white Americans would have anticipated that African Americans would serve in the U.S. military. For many white people in the North, the Civil War was a war to "save the Union," a conflict limited...

Same war, different day.
September 1, 2003... When African Americans finally won the right to fight in the Union army, they immediately discovered that they would not be treated as the equals of white soldiers. The issue of soldiers' pay, in particular, was a frustrating and degrading one...

Reminiscences of my life in camp.
September 1, 2003... While black and white men carried out most of the actual fighting in the Civil War, African American women also contributed to the Union war effort. Susie King Taylor was one of these women. In 1902, she published Reminiscences of My Life...

Forward to victory.
September 1, 2003... When the Civil War ended in 1865, almost 200,000 soldiers of African descent had served in the Union army. The first black regiment to engage in combat was the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers. At the time, the regiment had not yet been mustered...

Six winners: a game for 2.
September 1, 2003... Directions: To make Winner Squares Cut each index card into six squares. Write each of the following names on two squares: Tuskegee Airmen, Golden Thirteen, Soldiers, 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, 1st South Carolina Volunteers,...

From soldier to politician.
September 1, 2003... Many politicians have launched successful political careers following their military careers. P.B.S. Pinchback, a freeman born before the Civil War, met success and failure following a similar career path. One of 10 children fathered by a...

James Armistead: master spy.
September 1, 2003... Characters Narrator 1 Narrator 2 Marquis de Lafayette: a 23-year-old French nobleman who came to America to volunteer his services to the Continental Army George Washington: the commander of the Continental Army James...

Exclusion and segregation.
September 1, 2003... Everyday life for an African American soldier before 1948 included harsh discrimination--and most of it was legal. Until President Harry S. Truman called for an end to discrimination and segregation that year in the U.S. armed forces, African...

Dorie Miller.
September 1, 2003... December 7, 1941, started like any other Sunday for the men and women stationed at the Pearl Harbor base in Hawaii. Sailors, dressed in their "Sunday whites," were preparing for the flag-raising ceremony. As the men gathered on deck, planes...

Like father, like son.
September 1, 2003... Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., and Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., were both U.S. military pioneers. The elder Davis was the first African American general both in the Army and in the U.S. armed forces. His son, Davis, Jr., became the first African American...

Women cross the barrier.
September 1, 2003... In the 1700s, it was a common sight to see women near the front battle lines. While they did not serve as soldiers, they kept the troops fed and their clothes clean. They also made bandages, melted pewter to make bullets, and acted as nurses....

Cathay Williams.
September 1, 2003... Born a slave around 1844 in Independence, Missouri, Cathay Williams later moved to Jefferson City. Her father was a freeman; her mother, a slave. Soon after her master died, the Union army conquered Jefferson City and rounded up all the slaves....

Sherian Cadoria.
September 1, 2003... Born in Louisiana, Sherian Cadoria decided while in college to join the military. After a three-year tour of duty in Vietnam, from 1967 to 1969, she returned to the United States and became the first woman to take charge of the all-male...

Marcelite Jordan Harris.
September 1, 2003... Marcelite Jordan Harris is modest about her success. She once told a reporter, "You don't have to be gifted, just dedicated. There's nothing mysterious about it." Before she retired as the first African American female general in the United...

Justice at last.(Then and Now)
September 1, 2003... Only in the last 20 or 30 years has the U.S. government attempted to correct some of the injustices African Americans have endured in the military. Read on to learn the stories of a few of these soldiers. Henry O. Flipper In the 1800s,...

An interview with Colin Powell.
September 1, 2003... Secretary of State Colin Powell is today the best known African American to have served in the U.S. Military. His military career began in June 1958, when he received a commission as an Army second lieutenant upon graduation from City College...

An interview with Gail Buckley.(Descendants)
September 1, 2003... Gail Buckley is the author of American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm. Her mother, world-renowned actress and stager Lena Horne, performed several concerts for soldiers during World War II. ...

What are they due?
September 1, 2003... Unscramble the names of 7 men mentioned in the article on pages 42-44. Write the Names in the grid. The X blocks represent spaces. The O blocks designate letters Used to spell what African American heroes deserve:--and--. 1. SUUAGSTU...

Equation.(Your Pages)
September 1, 2003... Frustration, Panging up inside us, to break through our screaming to be heard. Determination, Fierce tears wandering down our cheeks, intertwining with our utmost fears, dreams, and hopes. Consternation, Welling up inside us, hidden...

American Patriots: the Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm.
September 1, 2003... American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm by Gail Buckley and adapted for young people by Tonya Bolden (Crown, 2002)is a concise, well-researched, and easy-to-understand account of the major role...

The Black Soldier 1492 to the Present.
September 1, 2003... The Black Soldier 1492 to the Present by Catherine Clinton (Houghton Mifflin, 2000) clearly and in an interesting-to-read manner chronicles the military accomplishments of African Americans who fought while struggling to be treated as equals...

Black stars: African American Military Heroes.
September 1, 2003... Black Stars: African American Military Heroes by Jim Haskins (John Wiley & Sons, 1998) chronologically focuses chapters on such heroes as Peter Salem, Robert Smalls, Henry Flipper, Dorie Miller, and Robert Goodman. Illustrations and...

Cobblestone Resources.
September 1, 2003... The following issues of FOOTSTEPS and COBBLESTONE complement this issue's theme on "Blacks and the Military" and are available from Cobblestone Publishing: "54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry" (January/February 1999) "From...