African American Women's Role In The Civil War

Having thoroughly analyzed the ways in which the Civil War profoundly altered concepts of womanhood and domesticity, the same method must be undertaken in examining these changing concepts within the South as well. Within his article entitled “Altars of Sacrifice: Confederate Women and the Narratives of War,” Drew Gilpin Faust emphasizes the importance of the Civil War as it stood out among other wars for “the place of women in that conflict stimulated especially significant examination and discussion of women’s appropriate relationship to war – and thus to society in general.” Moreover, he further stresses that while both the North and South were greatly dependent on the female population, the South seems to have relied on female participation

Some black Southerners aided the Confederacy. Most of these were forced to accompany their masters or were forced to toil behind the lines. Black men were not legally allowed to serve as combat soldiers in the Confederate Army--they were cooks, teamsters, and manual laborers. There were no black Confederate combat units in service during the war and no documentation whatsoever exists for any black man being paid or pensioned as a Confederate soldier This is not to say that no black man ever fired a gun for the Confederacy.

In the document “Hortense Johnson Describes Black Women and the War Effort, 1943” the reader sees what type of work was asked of her and what difficulties she had to go through daily to accomplish it all. Hortense Johnson was a young lady working as an inspector in a war plant amongst five others. She nearly got into every little detail of her job and how she spent her day from the moment she woke up to go to work until she left her work to go home. During this period of time, many women and young ladies were asked to help with the war effort by working jobs that usually men would acquire. But due to the instant and constant need of more soldiers on the battlefield, the labor force was lacking individuals to take place of soldiers.

At first the African Americans only served as laborers. They built things like roads and defensive supplies. As a result, they had protested about their duties in the military. By

The Civil War opened up the field of nursing to women, breaking down yet another barrier of the strict gender roles placed on women during the nineteenth century. Women from both the North and the South joined the Civil War as both nurses and “matrons”. The comparison of the way Faust presents Northern and Southern women in the book Mothers of Inventions, lends insight on the similarities and differences between Union and Confederate nurses. According to Faust, Florence Nightingale influenced both Northern and Southern women decision to join nursing during the Civil War (pg 92).

Many politicians felt this was a white man’s war and slaves had no right to fight this war. Slaves were not allowed to fight, all this changed when Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, it declared “ That all person held as slaves within the Confederate states should be free. Although it did not end slavery in the nation it gave people hope and uplifted the moral of blacks. Fredrick Douglas convinced Abraham Lincoln that African Americans were ready to fight and serve the Union.

However, most blacks never got to serve in combat units and most were limited to the labor battalions. The Marines wouldn 't let African Americans serve at all. The Navy and Coast Guard did but they gave them the lowest jobs they could. The 9th and 10th Calvary and the 24th and 25th Infantry were the first all-black regiments but they were only used in the US and were not used in combat roles overseas. They were so frustrated because they were good fighters and they felt like they may never get a chance to prove themselves.

Justin Lau (Wingkit) Professor Rogers History 100AC 29 September 2015 Response Paper: “The Women Is as Bad as the Men- Women 's Participation in the Inner Civil War.” , “General Benjamin Butler and the threat of Sexual Violence during the American Civil War”, “General Butler and the Women” and “The Other Side of the Freedom” A lot of North Carolina women showed uncooperative actions on the disorderliness by participating the protest in order to maintain their communities and social orders. These women would prefer to join the conflict that separated state and community rather than being its victims. Thus, their loyalties to husbands and sons, and strong determination of protecting their own property prompted them to disregard the female’s conventional behaviors.

The Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775) started the 7-year struggle also known as the Revolutionary War. The War was fought between Great Britain and their 13 American Colonies over the British government's overimposing taxes. The 13 colonies ended up winning the War and officially became the United States of America. However, the 13 colonies didn’t achieve this feat alone. While usually only white men from the colonies are depicted as the main heroes of the war the unsung heroes are the African Americans and women of America.

During the war, blacks were used as motivation to fight, they were willing to help fight, and they even worked their way into the politics of the post war

The amount of participation the African American community had on the war effort is astounding the amount of time and energy they gave was undeniably helpful for the war. Many of the men and women helped whether it was on the battle field or in the factories providing resources for the

The African Americans had a big impact on the Civil War. They had to have all of these laws and papers wrote because of the slavery deal. They had the role of the debate for slavery. They were the slaves and they wanted to have their freedom. The Declaration of Independence said that, “All men are created equal”, but the slaves were not free.

There was a huge number of women who joined the Continentals in battle. One of them was “the renowned Mary Ludwig Hays,” also called “Molly Pitcher,” who “took her husband’s place behind a cannon when he [had] fallen” (Gillon, pg.204). Furthermore, there were a number of women who had neither participated nor contributed to fight against British in the revolution war, but they had done something else, such as developing the Volunteer organizations. In Philadelphia, for example, Esther DeBerdt Reed developed the Ladies Association of Philadelphia.

In the years of the Civil War, African Americans played an important role in contributing to the Union Army and the confederate army. A great deal of African American men volunteered to join the Union Army but only after they gained freedom did they participate in fighting the war. Besides the Union Army, there was the confederate army which consisted of slave labor whom were forced to aid the confederacy following their masters. Later in the war, the Confederacy ran short on men and were in need to supply soldiers, leaving no choice but to enlist the colored men. Not only were African American men impacted from the war, but African American women also served to supply and aid in the war.

During the Civil War, it is said that almost 180,000 Black Soldiers served in the Union Army. The families of these soldiers would camp in nearby makeshift villages to be near their husbands, sons and fathers. The soldiers assisted them the best they could by share food and clothing from their military rations. Nearly 40,000 Black Soldiers died during the course of the war with 30,000 due to infections and diseases. Although Blacks were giving the chance to fight for their freedom, they were still not looked as equals.