This research guide fills a major gap in the literature about the citizen and volunteer soldier in American military history and explains how to conduct research on the subject and to explore fruitful areas for future study. Professor Cooper gives a brief historiography and points to the 50 most important studies on America's militia and National Guard. A carefully annotated bibliography provides basic information about 406 books, dissertations, and journal articles. Chapters cover different historical periods and topics, including African Americans, for the easy use of students, scholars, and researchers in history and military studies, as well as for history buffs wanting to learn more about the Guard. Author and subject indexes add to the usefulness of the volume.

A study of African Americans in Ohio-notably, Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. Giffin argues that the "color line" in Ohio hardened as the Great Migration gained force. His data shows, too, that the color line varied according to urban area, hardening progressively as one traveled South in the state.

Beginning in 1803, and continuing for several decades, the Ohio legislature enacted what came to be known as the Black Laws. Stephen Middleton tells the story of this racial oppression in Ohio and provides chilling episodes of how blacks asserted their freedom from the enactment of the Black Laws until the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Promoted to brigadier general at the start of World War II, Davis headed a special section that monitored black military units at home and overseas, investigated an increasing number of racial disturbances, and bolstered the black soldier's morale. He was largely responsible for persuading the Army to try a limited form of integration. The success of that effort led to a federal mandate for the integration of the entire American armed forces."--

William Hannibal Thomas (1843–1935) served with distinction in the U.S. Colored Troops in the Civil War (in which he lost an arm) and was a preacher, teacher, lawyer, state legislator, and journalist following Appomattox. In many publications up through the 1890s, Thomas espoused a critical though optimistic black nationalist ideology. After his mid-twenties, however, Thomas began exhibiting a self-destructive personality, one that kept him in constant trouble with authorities and always on the run. His book The American Negro (1901) was his final self-destructive act. Attacking African Americans in gross and insulting language in this utterly pessimistic book, Thomas blamed them for the contemporary “Negro problem” and argued that the race required radical redemption based on improved “character,” not changed “color.” Vague in his recommendations, Thomas implied that blacks should model themselves after certain mulattoes, most notably William Hannibal Thomas. Black Judas is a biography of Thomas, a publishing history of The American Negro, and an analysis of that book’s significance to American racial thought. The book is based on fifteen years of research, including research in postamputation trauma and psychoanalytic theory on selfhatred, to assess Thomas’s metamorphosis from a constructive race critic to a black Negrophobe. John David Smith argues that his radical shift resulted from key emotional and physical traumas that mirrored Thomas’s life history of exposure to white racism and intense physical pain.

While the role of the African American in American history has been written about extensively, it is often difficult to locate the wealth of material that has been published. African-Americans in Defense of the Nation builds on a long list of early bibliographies concerning the subject, bringing together a broad spectrum of titles related to the African-American participation in America's wars. It covers both military exploits—as African Americans have been involved in every American conflict since the Revolution—and their participation in the homefront support.

A fascinating chronicle of the endeavors of African Americans who fought for their country: this book recounts their stories, their bravery, and their contributions. African Americans at War puts a human face on this neglected area of history. From pre-Revolutionary fighting against the French to cutting-edge combat against Saddam Hussein, these A–Z volumes underscore significant military contributions from African Americans. The two volumes provide comprehensive coverage of aspects including important historical figures; key battles, legislation, and rulings; honors awarded; regiments, formations, and squadrons; and significant places. Individuals portrayed include celebrated Revolutionary hero Crispus Attucks and Lieutenant Vernon J. Baker, who led his platoon in a near suicidal attack on German positions in 1945. Often marginalized in support functions and frequently given suicidal missions, African Americans have served with distinction and honor in all U.S. conflicts. Their stories, endeavors, and bravery are now chronicled in one accessible resource. This set investigates each war, the interwar years, integration periods, and acceptance of African American men and women on the military team. This is a fascinating compendium spanning all U.S. history.

From the time of its emergence in the United States in 1852, the Young Men's Christian Association excluded blacks from membership in white branches but encouraged them to form their own associations and to join the Christian brotherhood on "separate but equal" terms. Nina Mjagkij's book, the first comprehensive study of African Americans in the YMCA, is a compelling account of hope and success in the face of adversity. African American men, faced with emasculation through lynchings, disenfranchisement, race riots, and Jim Crow laws, hoped that separate YMCAs would provide the opportunity to exercise their manhood and joined in large numbers, particularly members of the educated elite. Although separate black YMCAs were the product of discrimination and segregation, to African Americans they symbolized the power of racial solidarity, representing a "light in the darkness" of racism. By the early twentieth century there existed a network of black-controlled associations that increasingly challenged the YMCA to end segregation. But not until World War II did the organization, in response to growing protest, pass a resolution urging white associations to end Jim Crowism. Using previously untapped sources, Nina Mjagkij traces the YMCA's changing racial policies and practices and examines the evolution of African American associations and their leadership from slavery to desegregation. Here is a vivid and moving portrayal of African Americans struggling to build black-controlled institutions in their search for cultural self-determination. Light in the Darkness uncovers an important aspect of the struggle for racial advancement and makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the African American experience.