African Americans Played a Key Role in Vietnam War

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Recommended: Roles of African Americans and women in the war

Thesis: African Americans played a key role in Vietnam War and, in the process, changed the complexion of the U.S. Armed Forces

I. African Americans involves in the army

a. Irregular percentage of African Americans drafted in the military

b. The role of blacks in the Army

c. The Vietnam War as a genocide

II. Discrimination Issues

a. Armed Forces dominated by whites

b. Personal racism

c. Racist practices against blacks

d. African Americans in combat

III. Black Women in the Armed Forces

a. Segregation in working areas

b. Black women and their assignments

IV. The Black Power

a. Response to racism

b. The new black culture

c. Black’s own terminology

V. Consequences of Black response

a. Banned Manifestations

b. Widespread of racial violence

c. Transferring people to other areas

Hidden Heroism

Racial discrimination in the United States is not a new issue. African Americans have been discriminated against since 1619, when the first Africans were brought to Jamestown and served as slaves. After being killed, segregated and treated inequitably in 1965, the government gave equal opportunities to African Americans for the first time. Yet, the opportunity given was once again to serve the country. Their duty was to defend the nation during the Vietnam War. African Americans played a key roe in Vietnam and, in the process, changed the complexion of the U.S. Armed Forces. The fulfilled an extraordinary record of military service, regardless of the fact that they served under unequal conditions and were segregated with second-rate equipment (Young 333).

The Vietnam War had the highest percentage of blacks ever to serve in an American war (Jason). In the early years of U.S. invol...

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...e.

Johnson, Jesse J. Black Women in the Air Forces: 1942-1974 A Pictorial History. Jonhsonn: Hampton VA, 1974.

Kirby, Jason R. Rev. of Equlity or disrimination?: African Americans in the U.S. Military During the Vietnam Ward, ed. Natalie Kimbrough. The Journal of Military History. Sept. 2007. 26 Nov. 2007 http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/libweb/curriculum.

Westheider,James E. The African American Experience in Vietnam: Brothers in Arms. Rowman and Littlefield: United Kingdom, 2008.

Westheider, James E. Rev of The Brothers’ Vietnam War: Black Power, Manhood and the Military Experience, ed. Herman Graham. The Journal of Southern History. Nov. 2004. 26 Nov. 2007. http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/libweb/curriculum/do/document.

Young, Marilyn B. Buzzanco Robert. Eds. A Companion to The Vietnam War. Blackwell: Malden MA, 2002

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