Black Soldiers in Vietnam
The African American Experience in Vietnam
Black and white soldiers served side by side in the jungles of Vietnam. This clip shows the conditions they faced and gives an idea as to the diversity of combat units.
Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgLrjcneQBM |
Understanding Black anti-war activism requires first understanding the role that Black soldiers played in the Vietnam conflict. Although the Army had been desegregated shortly after the Second World War and an integrated force had fought in Korea, Vietnam was the first war in which blacks and whites served in truly integrated units, facing the same challenges of combat together.[1] This new dynamic, combined with discrimination at home, created a challenging atmosphere for African American soldiers.
At the time of the Vietnam war, the draft was the primary means for assembling a fighting force. Young black men were prime candidates for the draft and were in many ways targeted specifically. In the mid 1960s Secratary of Defense Robert McNamaera instituted project 100,000 in an effort to include more African Americans in the draft pool. Up until this time, many young black men did not qualify for the draft due to deficiencies in the Armed Forces Qualification Test, a likely consequence of the unequal education of the time. Project 100,000 bypassed this, and opened the doors to a disproportionate number of Black draftees. In fact, by the end of 1966, over 40% of soldiers being sent to combat were African American, more than double their proportion of the total population[2]. Project 100,000 combined with blacks lowered chances of receiving a deferment (due to less access to higher education) resulted in this staggering bias in drafting and eventually led to a disproportionate number of combat deaths and injuries to African Americans. |
Not only were Black soldiers more likely to be drafted, but they also faced discrimination within the services. Although more Blacks served, they were less likely to be promoted than their white counterparts in nearly all areas of the military. This was likely reflective of the gap between Blacks and whites in the officer corps. During the conflict, African Americans made up only 5% of the officer corps, compared to their 10% share of the entire Army[3]. There became a growing sentiment that it was white politicians and officers sending Black enlisted men into danger and African Americans disproportionate share of combat deaths seems to validate this. With all of this in mind, it is easy to understand why Black resistance to the war was so strong.
[1] Christine Knauer, “Race and/in War”, part of At War: The Military and American Culture in the Twentieth Century and Beyond, (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2018) p.183
[2]Christine Knauer, “Race and/in War”, part of At War: The Military and American Culture in the Twentieth Century and Beyond, (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2018) p.183
[3]Rothman, L. (2017, May 22). This week in HISTORY: Vietnam and African-american Soldiers. Retrieved May 12, 2021, from https://time.com/4780493/1967-vietnam-race/
[2]Christine Knauer, “Race and/in War”, part of At War: The Military and American Culture in the Twentieth Century and Beyond, (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2018) p.183
[3]Rothman, L. (2017, May 22). This week in HISTORY: Vietnam and African-american Soldiers. Retrieved May 12, 2021, from https://time.com/4780493/1967-vietnam-race/