Lives in Jim Crow's Army: Black Military School Detachments, 1907-1930s

In 1907, General J. Franklin Bell, the Army's chief of staff, faced a significant problem: the members of the Regular Army's white cavalry detachment at West Point were deserting in droves. He replaced them with African American soldiers. These young men quickly proved to be more competent and reliable than their white predecessors, in no small part due to their low rate of desertion. Although the decision was made for reasons of efficiency and expediency, it created a historically importan...