Location
Sydnor Performance Hall
Access Type
Campus Access Only
Start Date
4-17-2024 3:15 PM
End Date
4-17-2024 3:30 PM
College
Lynchburg College of Arts and Sciences
Department
History
Keywords
Medal of Honor, Racism, History
Abstract
The Medal of Honor is the nation’s highest award for valor; however, this was not always the case. Furthermore, deserving recipients did not always receive the Medal of Honor. Although many received this prestigious recognition from its inception through the Spanish American War, the creation of the next two highest awards in 1918 started a trend of not honoring African Americans with the Medal of Honor. It was not until the Korean War, shortly after the military was integrated, that African Americans began receiving the highest award again. In the 1990s, the military, with the help of Shaw University, recognized this serious injustice which led to retroactively awarding the medal to those who deserved this honor from World War II. During the gap, the discrimination within the awarding of the Medal of Honor was possibly overshadowed by other civil rights movements, other wars that did present the Medal of Honor to African Americans, and the short memories of Americans. This research looked deep into the history of the Medal of Honor, exploring why African Americans were not awarded the Medal of Honor during World War II, comparing citations of African American Soldiers who were retroactively awarded the medal to White Soldiers who received the medal in the 1940s, and highlighting what has been done in the last 30 years to rectify this injustice.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Lisa Crutchfield Dr. Brian Crim
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“Racism and the Medal of Honor: Bravery Comes From the Heart Not the Skin”
Sydnor Performance Hall
The Medal of Honor is the nation’s highest award for valor; however, this was not always the case. Furthermore, deserving recipients did not always receive the Medal of Honor. Although many received this prestigious recognition from its inception through the Spanish American War, the creation of the next two highest awards in 1918 started a trend of not honoring African Americans with the Medal of Honor. It was not until the Korean War, shortly after the military was integrated, that African Americans began receiving the highest award again. In the 1990s, the military, with the help of Shaw University, recognized this serious injustice which led to retroactively awarding the medal to those who deserved this honor from World War II. During the gap, the discrimination within the awarding of the Medal of Honor was possibly overshadowed by other civil rights movements, other wars that did present the Medal of Honor to African Americans, and the short memories of Americans. This research looked deep into the history of the Medal of Honor, exploring why African Americans were not awarded the Medal of Honor during World War II, comparing citations of African American Soldiers who were retroactively awarded the medal to White Soldiers who received the medal in the 1940s, and highlighting what has been done in the last 30 years to rectify this injustice.