The Black Officer Corps A History of Black Military Advancement from Integration through Vietnam

The U.S. Armed Forces started integrating its services in 1948, and with that push, more African Americans started rising through the ranks to become officers, although the number of black officers has always been much lower than African Americans? total percentage in the military. Astonishingly, the experiences of these unknown reformers have largely gone unexamined and unreported, until now.

The Black Officer Corps traces segments of the African American officers? experience from 1946-1973. From generals who served in the Pentagon and Vietnam, to enlisted servicemen and officers' wives, Isaac Hampton has conducted over seventy-five oral history interviews with African American officers. Through their voices, this book illuminates what they dealt with on a day to day basis, including cultural differences, racist attitudes, unfair promotion standards, the civil rights movement, Black Power, and the experience of being in ROTC at Historically Black Colleges. Hampton provides a nuanced study of the people whose service reshaped race relations in the U.S. Armed Forces, ending with how the military attempted to control racism with the creation of the Defense Race Relations Institute of 1971. The Black Officer Corps gives us a much fuller picture of the experience of black officers, and a place to start asking further questions.

CHAPTER 1 – The Origins of the Negro Military Officer

CHAPTER 2 -- Black Ideological Influences of the 1960s,Civil Rights, Black Power, and Military Service

CHAPTER 3 – Historically Black Colleges and the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC)

CHAPTER 4- Inequities in the Officer Promotion System

CHAPTER 5- The Butler Report

CHAPTER 6 – Analysis and Interpretation of the Butler Report

CHAPTER 7- Racial Tension

CHAPTER 8 – Addressing Racial Tension and the Role the Defense Race Relations Institute (DRRI)

CHAPTER 9 – Anatomy of the African American Enlisted Soldier

CHAPTER 10 – The Role and Significance Of African American Officers Wives
CHAPTER 11 – Epilogue

Isaac Hampton II is the U.S. Army South Command Historian at Fort Sam Houston, Texas and Adjunct Professor of History at San Antonio Community College.