Truth be told the well was probably poisoned before the war. Put aside the 'social' issue, if the North had used FMofC as soldiers (before Glory was written and the soundtrack recorded) they would have been obligated to allow them to move up North and work in the industrial segment. I doubt a former soldier would accept a ditch digging job building a canal. Surviving the war would show they were capable of more than that. Then they'd have to be in contention for jobs the Irish and other immigrants were fighting for. You know, those low pay, no benefit, probably going to die young if you do it type of job. Well, they'd put the ladies and the children out of work if they took some of those. Can't have that. Not a good image for America.

Sooo, they accepted a few and sent em west to shoot Indians. While my Native American blood boils at the thought, my logic tells me they were good at what they were told to do. Now we have come to the crossroad. The Blacks were then pretty much ignored from that period to WWII. They lived as best they could. Some were respected business people and some were well, just like some whites, not good at any work.
The US Government wasn't too keen on hiring them in any military capacity then. Soo, if we agree, we do so far I hope, we also understand the worst possible move for the US Government was sign em up as soldiers. Even though they wanted them free in 1861, they did NOT want them to be seen after 1865. It took a few generations of Black people who still kept their head about them while the rest of the world was running to ground to find a solid foothold. Some got to do some pretty spectacular airplane flying during WWII. If anyone doubts the Tuskeegee Airmen were for real and were dang good, they need to go do some research. Sadly, at that same institute, Tuskeegee, our government used them as little lab rats too. So, why in the world would they still want to fight to defend the US? Hmm, possibly for the same reason a few may have decided to defend the Confederacy, it was home.

To top it off, they pretty much ignored the many good things a Black man who was super smart in the Science department at Tuskeegee added to the book of knowledge. How come it took em til they got Black History month (that is really 12 months long) to remember who 'gave' us a Mom's best friend? What would we do without Peanut Butter?

Pam