Produced in partnership with the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, Take Our Stand: the African American Military Experience in the Age of Jim Crow is a new exhibit from the American Civil War Center that chronicles the Black military experience from the Spanish-American War to the desegregation of the U.S. military in 1948. This exhibit opens on Monday, Feb. 7, at the Esther Atkinson Museum on the campus of Hampden-Sydney College

African Americans have served in the United States military since the beginning of our nation. Slaves and free Blacks served with distinction alongside white soldiers and in segregated units during the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812. But racism, the absence of foreign enemies, and a growing concern about possible slave rebellions all combined to exclude African Americans from the Army, Marine Corps, and state militias in the four decades prior to the Civil War. The one exception was the U.S. Navy, which had integrated Black sailors into its service throughout most of the 19th century.

The need for manpower during the Civil War compelled white leaders to reassess racial policies regarding the service of Blacks in the armed forces. As a result, more than 186,000 African Americans fought in the Federal Army and Navy to preserve the Union and abolish slavery in the United States. When the War ended the army reorganized and authorized the formation of two Black cavalry and two Black infantry regiments to serve in the southwest United States. From 1866 to the early 1890s these four regiments, known as “Buffalo Soldiers,” participated in numerous campaigns during the Indian Wars. This experience made these Black troops among America's most valuable fighting forces when the United States went to war with Spain in 1898.

By the 1890s Jim Crow laws were widespread throughout the former Confederate States. The laws stripped Black Americans of the rights they had won and undermined the freedom of a people who had just shaken off the shackles of slavery. State government policies limiting constitutional rights and civil liberties, coupled with widespread racism in American society, created a tremendously challenging environment for all Blacks, including those serving in the armed forces. So why did African Americans enlist in the military and fight for a country that deprived them of their civil rights? Take Our Stand: the African American Experience in the Age of Jim Crow endeavors to provide a greater understanding of race, hardship, heroism, the demands of citizenship, and what it means to serve one's country in the face of virulent discrimination.

The Esther Atkinson Museum is open Monday through Friday, 12:30 to 5 p.m. For Saturdays and other times, call 434-223-6134 (www.hsc.edu/museum).