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African American Recipients of the Medal of Honor: A Biographical Dictionary, Civil War Through Vietnam War

African American Recipients of the Medal of Honor: A Biographical Dictionary, Civil War Through Vietnam War
By Charles W. Hanna

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Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #1944794 in Books
  • Published on: 2002-08
  • Original language: English
  • Dimensions: .88 pounds
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 199 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Here are the stories of 88 African Americans who have been awarded the Medal of Honor. Among them are Clement Dees, a deserter whose medal was later revoked; several of the "buffalo soldiers" who fought in the Indian Wars; and Naval Landsman Aaron Anderson, a recipient during the Civil War whose medal was erroneously issued under the name Aaron Sanderson.

Within chapters that correspond to major conflicts, from the Civil War to the Vietnam War, summaries are arranged alphabetically by recipient's name and generally range from just under a page to three or four pages in length. Entries often include quotes from citations, and some are accompanied by black-and-white illustrations, mostly of grave sites. An appendix lists total numbers of medals awarded by wars and campaigns.

This is a useful text to better grasp the discrimination that has been inherent in the military for much of its existence. Discrimination is discussed particularly in relation to the First and Second World Wars, where just eight African American individuals have been awarded the Medal of Honor. One medal was awarded for service in World War I, out of the 370,000 African Americans who served, but President George H. W. Bush did not award it until 1991. Seven medals were awarded for actions in World War II, but President Clinton did not issue them until 1994. The seven medals for African Americans are out of a total of 439 awarded to WWII servicemen.

This book adds to the collection of materials available on the Medal of Honor. Previous books--Medal of Honor Recipients, 1863-1994 (Facts On File, 1995); The Congressional Medal of Honor: The Names, The Deeds (Sharp and Dunigan, 1984)--look at the whole of the recipients and provide much less specific descriptions of the individuals and their actions. African American Recipients of the Medal of Honor is a valuable addition to collections on military history, government, and African American studies. RBB
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About the Author
Charles W. Hanna, an attorney and secretary for the Medal of Honor Historical Society, lives in Salt Lake City.