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History.com Staff. "The 54th Massachusetts Infantry." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 16 May 2017.

Historylover201933/19/14, and Ron Nash3/26/14. "Patriotism Crosses the Color Line: African Americans in World War II." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. N.p., 16 Aug. 2012. Web. 16 May 2017.

"Tuskegee Airmen." HistoryNet. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2017.

Moore, A. "Racism in the U.S. Military: 8 Disturbing Practices You Should Know About Before Letting Your Teen Sign-Up." Atlanta Black Star. N.p., 28 Aug. 2015. Web. 16 May 2017.

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Undoubtedly, there has been racism all across the United States Army ever since the 54th Massachusetts Regiment came into existence. However, the levels of discrimination have certainly gone down, and the amount of reported cases are much lower than they were so many years ago. This is why it is upsetting to hear the numerous arguments made on behalf of the people that believe racism is now worse than ever in the military. Most of the claims made are very often false, or at least inaccurate and irrelevant in one way or another.
By looking at the percentages of men and women of different heritages in the US Army, people think that the amounts show racism. Because black men only make up 8% of active-duty officers (as of 2011), many think that there is something wrong with the US Army's recruiting system. This does not mean anything though, as African-Americans are minorities, which explains their low representation in the military.
People also claim that there are events known as "Racial Thursday," in which officers are free to use whatever kinds of racial slurs that they please. I am unsure of where this rumor came from, but true or not, it is certainly not meant to be racist. The circumstances presented point towards the event being more of a fun time for black officers and white officers alike.
Another unfortunate claim made to make-out the US Army as a racist system is the fact that Skinheads are allowed to join. With their Nazi-like views, the idea of them fighting alongside minorities of which they hate can really set off a person. I am sure that the policies laid out by the organization that is the United States Military, however, would not allow for Skinheads to make any type of racist comment or perform any type of racist action. As sad as it is to say, Skinheads are Americans, too, giving them every right to fight in the Army as anybody else.

The main point that I wanted to make within this section is that the allegations made by modern-day people believing that racism exists in the US Army are extremely offensive and false. When compared to the challenges faced by the Tuskegee Airmen and 54th Massachusetts Regiment, it is just upsetting to think that so many people believe modern circumstances are worse.

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As with most black men during the 1940's, the Tuskegee Airmen were not free of discrimination. Right from the start, people believed that the US Army was up to no good with the treatment of their new African-American recruits. The title of "Tuskegee Experiment" was one of many things that raised questions with countless black folk. According to them, it was as though it had been given that title because the US Army's intents were for it to fail. Something else that seemed a little bit discriminatory on the Air Corps's part were the planes provided to the 99th Pursuit Squadron for their mission in North Africa. The aircraft were P-40, which were out-of-date and slow for the time.

A P-40 aircraft
As mentioned previously, the Tuskegee Airmen were transferred numerous times. One of the reasons for their first transfer was due to the fact that their original commander did not want to have the "burden" of being assigned black men. This may seem terrible, but was not even as close to as bad as things got a couple of years later. Once certain members of the 99th Pursuit Squadron were sent to the 477th Medium Bombardment Group of Selfridge Field in Michigan, events became very out of hand.
At the base, the white officers would not allow for the black men to enter their base club. This ultimately lead to the transfer of the black men to a base in Kentucky, followed by one in Indiana. On April 5th, 1945, in the Indiana base, the African-American men tried once more to enter the club of the white officers. This quickly escalated to them being arrested, along with 21 more that attempted the same the next morning, on account of "violation of provost marshal's orders." In what would come to be known as the Freeman Field Mutiny, all but three of the black officers were let go, leaving Lieutenant Roger C. Terry to be charged and fined $150.

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Racism Faced by the 54th Massachusetts Regiment

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Racism Faced by the 54th Massachusetts Regiment

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Although it may seem like the men of the 54th Regiment were treated just as any other Union soldier, that was certainly not the case. The fact that these men were black was one of the main reasons for angry Confederate and Union soldiers alike. One of the most common points that is made about the unfair treatment of African-Americans in the 54th Regiment is the fact that they were underpaid. Where white soldiers were earning $13 per week, black ones were only receiving $10 each week. This problem was quick to have action taken upon it, as numerous soldiers, both black and white, refused to accept pay until the gap was closed. The protest partially worked, as the gap disappeared near the end of the Civil War.
Other instances of racism were brought up by the fellow white soldiers of these men. The very idea that they were fighting alongside people of color was enough to disgust countless white soldiers and officers. Many believed that their African-American counterparts would simply run away from the battle with the sight of oncoming danger. These biases were quickly overturned, however, on the battlefield. The passionate way that every black soldier fought for their country, despite the racism that they had gone through, really moved the white men fighting alongside them.

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The adversity faced by both the Tuskegee Airmen and the 54th Regiment is rather difficult to think about, however what was it like for African-Americans in general during the second World War? The answer to that question is extremely segregated. In fact, most of the blacks that served in the US Army during World War II, which totaled over 1,000,000, were put into segregated combat support groups where they would stay for most of the war. This is subtly similar to the 54th Regiment, seeing as it was one of the only regiments allowing for blacks to join at the time, which could give it a title of "segregated".
African-American women were also put into separate places, just as black men were, in their specific sections of the military. The Women's Auxiliary Army Corp, also known as WAAC, was a section known for segregation. Black women would be put into their own training units and housing, and would even be assigned their own tables to dine at in the mess hall of the training camp. When compared to the conditions in the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, though, things did not seem to be as bad as they were in the WAAC during World War II. There were a lot of despising thoughts for the black men of this regiment, but there was not much ever done in regards of segregation.
One of the strangest similarities between the black community of World War II and the 54th Massachusetts Regiment has to be the event known as the March on Washington. As the Nazi threat grew in the early 1940's, so did America's production industry. The demand for products of the arms category saw a steep incline, so factories sought it necessary to hire more employees in order to meet the new standards. The black community grew quickly in outrage, however, once they learned that African-American men would not be accepted into the needed positions. This eventually lead to civil rights activist A. Philip Randolph to organize a march of black men and woman to be held in Washington, DC, in 1941. The protesting became so populous that eventually, President Franklin Roosevelt decided to do something about it, issuing Executive Order 8802. The new order banned discrimination in government and the defense industry, and the Temporary Fair Employment Practices Committee was also created to help enforce the order.

This event seems to very similarly tie-in with the small protest that occurred with the 54th Massachusetts Regiment during the Civil War. Just as these men and women protested what they thought was wrong with the government, the men of the 54th regiment did the same by refusing to accept pay, a topic that they believed had become unfair. With both of these events, the government eventually stepped in. In the case of the men of the 54th Regiment, the pay was eventually evened out near the end of the war. The civil rights activists of WWII also got the compromise that they wanted. The fact that both of these ordeals dealt with race and jobs is another coincidence that shows similarity between both the 54th Regiment and blacks during WWII.
It can be concluded that the significance of the Tuskegee Airmen when compared to the Massachusetts Regiment is probably more important than the connections made here, however that does not mean that they should simply be disregarded. Any event in history can be connected with any other, but when the topics are of such similar origin, it is
interesting to see just how many connections can be made.

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The 54th Regiment and the Tuskegee Airmen

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The 54th Regiment and the Tuskegee Airmen

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Just from reading the individually presented information on the Tuskegee Airmen and the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, it can already be assumed that there is a lot in common between the two of them. The black men involved with each group all had to face their own forms of discrimination, no matter how harsh. It can also be made apparent that these men, being the first of their kind, tried very hard to set an amazing standard for future people that would eventually end up in their positions. There are clearly some differences presented between the two as well, both in mission and in success.
It is blankly obvious that these men existed at different time periods and in different branches, prompting for different duties to be expected of them. These duties were the main contrasting details between the two militias of men. While the 54th Regiment was required to charge Fort Wagner, the 99th Pursuit Squadron's main missions were to safely escort bombers. Another key difference concerning these men is that while the Tuskegee Airmen were just about always successful in their missions, the 54th Massachusetts Regiment was, unfortunately, not as lucky, seeing as they lost their first assigned battle. These may seem like very contrasting details, letting one think that these African-American men of history were nothing alike, however when the courage and dedication required for these assignments is looked at, one can realize that these men may not have been so different after all.
Think about it: Would you be willing to fly a plane in enemy territory, or even run towards armed enemies that hate everything about you and your race? The men of Tuskegee and the 54th Regiment did just that, and they never stopped believing in their cause. These were men that were making history, and they knew what they were doing, as inexperienced as they may have been. Their simple goal of fighting for their country and setting a standard is a part of the reason that they fought with such passion and dignity. White men of the 54th Regiment claimed that their black soldiers fought better than most men. The Tuskegee Airmen did better than most men as well, protecting more bombers than the average escorting team.
The thing that can be said without a doubt about these two groups is that they each had a challenge to overcome, that challenge being racism. For the Massachusetts Regiment, it was unequal pay and hate from fellow soldiers, while for the 99th Pursuit Squadron, it was unfair supplies and negative in-camp treatment. Each of these examples of discrimination were on different levels from each  other, however that did not change the fact that they were each just as difficult to get passed. The black men in these groups felt targeted and vulnerable, but they still made an attempt to stop the injustices that they believed were immoral to them as people. For the men of the Civil War, protest was their solution, choosing not to accept pay. The men of World War II, unfortunately, had no way to fight the racism stressed upon them in training. Their one solution failed, as they attempted to enter where they were not allowed.       The effort made, the standards set, the history made, and the events gone through by these black men, though, should be enough to show just how similar these men of different times were, struggling in times of war, in a country that was only beginning to accept them.

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When it came into existence in 1907, the US Air Corps originally did not allow for black men to be let in. The main reason for this was the fact that many of the US Army's operations took place in the south, which was still widespread with racism from years prior. A group known as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP,  thought that African-American men had every right as white men to join the US Army, especially the  Air Corps, prompting for a lawsuit to be filed in 1941. This lawsuit, in actuality only backed by NAACP and filed by Yancey Williams, was settled upon not too far afterwards.
The  settlement prompted the creation of a new training base located at the Tuskegee Institute of Alabama. The new area would come to be known as the Tuskegee Experiment, and was where any African-American wanting to join the Air Corps was sent to learn how to fly. Throughout the Tuskegee Experiment's existence, it was rumored that the men were treated much worse there than at normal facilities, however this was not true, as they were treated no differently than their white counterparts. Not long after the base was formed, it launched the 99th Pursuit Squadron on July 19th, 1941. The team consisted of mostly black men, and even had the first African-American to hold the title of general: Benjamin O. Davis. Two years after its activation, the squadron was sent to North Africa in the spring time of 1943. They performed very well on their various missions, and found themselves being transferred multiple times.
The men of 99th Pursuit Squadron most definitely got a lot of their fame from the numerous escort missions that they were assigned to. During these missions, the tails of their jets would be painted a bright red, earning them the nickname "the Red Tails." The majority of the over 200 escort missions performed by the Red Tails involved the transport of bomber planes that were too large to defend themselves. Using the tactic of staying close to their escortee for the entirety of the mission is what kept their loss total down to only 27 bombers, nearly half of the average. These men were such great pilots that they even damaged a German torpedo ship so badly using only their machine guns that it could not be used for the remainder of the war.

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Some of the greatest history for African-American men surrounded the 54th Massachusetts Regiment of the Union during the Civil War. After Abraham Lincoln's famous Emancipation Proclamation, Massachusetts governor John A. Andrews made the first call for black soldiers during the early period of February, 1863. Well over 1,000 African-American men signed up for battle when given the opportunity, some as young as 16 years of age. 25-year-old Robert Gould Shaw was put in charge of the regiment containing these men, of which 1/4 were from slave-holding states. The final numbers of these men added up to 1,007 black soldiers and 37 white officers.
The regiment's first assignment was to capture Fort Wagner on the date of July 18th, 1863. This date would prove to be an unfortunate one in Union history, as it would be won by the Confederacy due to a miscalculation made on the Union's part concerning the amount of enemy soldiers that would be present. This left 281 men of the regiment either wounded, killed, or captured, including Robert Gould Shaw. In fact, Confederate soldiers even took the liberty to bury both Shaw and his men in an unmarked grave, stating that Shaw had been, "buried with his niggers." The remark was meant to stop Union armies from accepting blacks, but instead did the opposite, pulling in many more African-American soldiers.