Brotherhood in Combat

How African Americans Found Equality in Korea and Vietnam

Nonfiction, History, Asian, Korean War, Military, Vietnam War
Cover of the book Brotherhood in Combat by Jeremy P. Maxwell, University of Oklahoma Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Jeremy P. Maxwell ISBN: 9780806161167
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press Publication: March 22, 2018
Imprint: University of Oklahoma Press Language: English
Author: Jeremy P. Maxwell
ISBN: 9780806161167
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Publication: March 22, 2018
Imprint: University of Oklahoma Press
Language: English

African American leaders such as Frederick Douglass long advocated military service as an avenue to equal citizenship for black Americans. Yet segregation in the U.S. armed forces did not officially end until President Harry Truman issued an executive order in 1948. What followed, at home and in the field, is the subject of Brotherhood in Combat, the first full-length, interdisciplinary study of the integration of the American military during the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Using a wealth of oral histories from black and white soldiers and marines who served in one or both conflicts, Jeremy P. Maxwell explores racial tension—pervasive in rear units, but relatively rare on the front lines. His work reveals that in initially proving their worth to their white brethren on the battlefield, African Americans changed the prevailing attitudes of those ranking officials who could bring about changes in policy. Brotherhood in Combat also illustrates the schism over attitudes toward civil-military relations that developed between blacks who had entered the service prior to Vietnam and those who were drafted and thus brought revolutionary ideas from the continental United States to the war zone. More important, Maxwell demonstrates how even at the height of civil rights unrest at home, black and white soldiers found a sense of brotherhood in the jungles of Vietnam.

Incorporating military, diplomatic, social, racial, and ethnic topics and perspectives, Brotherhood in Combat presents a remarkably thorough and finely textured account of integration as it was experienced and understood in mid-twentieth-century America.
 

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

African American leaders such as Frederick Douglass long advocated military service as an avenue to equal citizenship for black Americans. Yet segregation in the U.S. armed forces did not officially end until President Harry Truman issued an executive order in 1948. What followed, at home and in the field, is the subject of Brotherhood in Combat, the first full-length, interdisciplinary study of the integration of the American military during the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Using a wealth of oral histories from black and white soldiers and marines who served in one or both conflicts, Jeremy P. Maxwell explores racial tension—pervasive in rear units, but relatively rare on the front lines. His work reveals that in initially proving their worth to their white brethren on the battlefield, African Americans changed the prevailing attitudes of those ranking officials who could bring about changes in policy. Brotherhood in Combat also illustrates the schism over attitudes toward civil-military relations that developed between blacks who had entered the service prior to Vietnam and those who were drafted and thus brought revolutionary ideas from the continental United States to the war zone. More important, Maxwell demonstrates how even at the height of civil rights unrest at home, black and white soldiers found a sense of brotherhood in the jungles of Vietnam.

Incorporating military, diplomatic, social, racial, and ethnic topics and perspectives, Brotherhood in Combat presents a remarkably thorough and finely textured account of integration as it was experienced and understood in mid-twentieth-century America.
 

More books from University of Oklahoma Press

Cover of the book Battleship Oklahoma BB-37 by Jeremy P. Maxwell
Cover of the book Native Peoples of the Olympic Peninsula by Jeremy P. Maxwell
Cover of the book Uninvited Neighbors by Jeremy P. Maxwell
Cover of the book Contours of a People by Jeremy P. Maxwell
Cover of the book Speculators in Empire by Jeremy P. Maxwell
Cover of the book American Indian Education by Jeremy P. Maxwell
Cover of the book Reservation Politics by Jeremy P. Maxwell
Cover of the book Red Bird, Red Power by Jeremy P. Maxwell
Cover of the book Public Relations by Jeremy P. Maxwell
Cover of the book Over the Santa Fe Trail to Mexico by Jeremy P. Maxwell
Cover of the book James J. Hill by Jeremy P. Maxwell
Cover of the book Maya Lords and Lordship by Jeremy P. Maxwell
Cover of the book Open Range by Jeremy P. Maxwell
Cover of the book The Powhatan Indians of Virginia by Jeremy P. Maxwell
Cover of the book Show Town by Jeremy P. Maxwell
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy