Volume 7, Issue 1 (1993) African Americans and the Military: A Special Commemorative Issue

It gives me great pleasure to be part of the publication of this special issue on blacks in the U.S. military. Blacks in America have sacrificed their lives in all of the wars involving the U.S. at the same time that they have struggled for social and racial justice at home. Unfortunately, pervasive myths about the military sacrifices and valor of blacks in this country continue to be held by many Americans. It is also sad that too many blacks find that the military may be the only channel available to them for the realization of social and economic mobility. The articles in this special commemorative issue eloquently and effectively describe various facets of the black military experience in the U.S. Collectively these articles serve to dispel erroneous information and misconceptions about the experiences of blacks in the military. This effort represents a collaborative venture between the William Monroe Trotter Institute and the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences of the University of Massachusetts at Boston. Kevin Bowen and David Hunt of the William Joiner Center initiated this idea and the plan for this collaboration. My congratulations to the members of both institutes who made this publication possible, and my congratulations to the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences on their tenth anniversary.