Black service members have served in every single American conflict. The U.S. Army History Office estimates about 5,000 warriors in the American Revolution were black.

Civil War – 1862 – Congress passed a law freeing any person with a master in the Confederate Army and slavery is abolished in the Union.

World War I – 1914 – The 369th Infantry Regiment “Harlem Hellfighters” spent more time on the front than any other American Unit.

World War II – 1939 – More than one million Black men and women served in the military, most notably the “Tuskegee Airmen” and “Black Panthers.”

Integration – 1948 – President Truman signs Executive Order 9981 directing the military to end segregation.