Throughout history, African-American women have participated in the defense of America.
While all women in the armed forces have faced discrimination based on gender, Black women face a double burden because of their race.
The following story, published in the Recorder’s Black History Month section in 1996, details some of the ways Black women have contributed to the country’s cause throughout history.
A brief history of Black women in the military
By KATHRYN SHELDON
American women have participated in the defense of this nation in both war and peacetime. Their contributions, however, have gone largely unrecognized and unrewarded. In commemoration of Black History Month, the Women In Military Service Memorial Foundation calls attention to the important contributions made by Black women in military service.
While all women in the armed forces share a history of discrimination based on gender, Black women have faced a double burden of race and gender in their pursuit of opportunity for service in the United States Armed Forces.
Initially barred from official status in the military, Black women, through persistent efforts in demanding their right to serve, have seen their roles tremendously expanded, as well as their presence in today’s military.
Early patriots
No documented records have been discovered of Black women’s military service in the American Revolution, however, they may well have served along side Black men in the fight for freedom.
During the Civil War, Black women performed many duties including nursing, domestic chores in medical settings, laundry and cooking for the soldiers. Indeed, as the Union Army marched through the South and large numbers of freed Black men enlisted, their wives served under the direction of Catholic nuns aboard the famous Navy hospital ship Red Dover.
Four of their names — Alice Kennedy, Sarah Kinno, Ellen Campbell and Betsy Young — have been documented. Other Black nurses are in the record books of many Union hospitals.
Susie King Taylor, Civil War nurse, cook, and laundress, was raised a slave on an island off the coast of Savannah, Georgia. In April of 1861, Major General David Hunter assaulted Fort Pulaski and freed all the slaves in the area. Mrs. King signed on as a laundress and nurse. Able to read and write, she also set up a school for Black children and soldiers.
Mrs. King’s experiences as a Black employee of the Union Army are recounted in her diary. She wrote frequently of the unequal treatment.
“The first colored troops did not receive any pay for eighteen months and the men had to depend wholly on what they received from the commissary. A great many of these men had large families, and they had no money to give them, their wives were obliged to support themselves and children by washing for the officers and making cakes and pies which they sold to the boys in camp. Finally, in 1863, the government decided to give them half pay, but the men would accept none of this … They preferred rather to give their services to the state, which they did until 1864, when the government granted them full pay, with all back due pay.”
Susie King was never paid for her service, “I was very happy to know my efforts were successful in camp, and also felt grateful for the appreciation of my service. I gave my services willingly for four years and three months without receiving a dollar. I was glad, however, to be allowed to go with the regiment, to care for the sick and afflicted comrades.”
Immediately following the Civil War, a man called William Cathey enlisted in the United States Regular Army in St. Louis, Missouri. William Cathey, intending to serve three years with the 38th U.S. Infantry, was described by the recruiting officer as 5’9” with black eyes, black hair and black complexion. The cursory examination by an army physician missed the fact that William Cathey was actually Cathay Williams, a woman.
“William Cathey” served from Nov. 15, 1866, until her discharge with a surgeon’s certificate of disability on Oct. 14, 1868. Despite numerous and often lengthy hospital stays during her service, her sex was not revealed until June 1891 when Cathay Williams applied for an invalid pension and disclosed her true identity. She did not receive the pension.
Black women in modern military
Black women served with distinction in recent deployments such as Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Operation Restore Hope in Somalia and Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti. Black military women are overseas serving in Operation Joint Endeavor in Bosnia. On June 16, 1995, Brigadier General Marcelite Harris, USAF was promoted to major general, the first Black woman to attain this rank.
