Lives in Jim Crow’s Army

In 1907, General J. Franklin Bell, Army Chief of Staff, changed the troubled Regular Army's white cavalry detachment at West Point, whose members were deserting in droves, to consist of African American soldiers. These young men in the academy's Cavalry Detachment quickly proved to be more competent and reliable than their white predecessors, in no small part due to their historically low desertion rate. While the decision was first made in pursuit of efficiency and expediency, it unintentionally created a historical detachment, which from 1907 to 1931 saw only Black soldiers serve in its ranks. As race relations in the United States grow ever more complicated, it is critically important to honor the contributions of Black soldiers to the United States military. This book does so by covering the lives of these men serving in the Jim Crow era Army.