- Jan 30, 2020
- 361
- 136
Fine,
You don't read much, do you? I guess you don't know of countless Black women who operated as spies for the Union Army or as nurses for both sides.
"No documented records have been discovered of black women’s military service in the American Revolution. They may well have served alongside black men.
"During the Civil War, black women’s services included nursing or domestic chores in medical settings, laundering and cooking for the soldiers.
"Indeed, as the Union Army marched through the South and large numbers of freed black men enlisted, their female family members often obtained employment with the unit. The Union Army paid black women to raise cotton on plantations for the northern government to sell.
"Five black nurses served under the direction of Catholic nuns aboard the Navy hospital ship Red Rover. Four of their names—Alice Kennedy, Sarah Kinno, Ellen Campbell and Betsy Young—have been recorded.
"Black nurses are in the record books of both Union and Confederate hospitals. As many as 181 black nurses—both female and male—served in convalescent and US government hospitals in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina during the war."
(From the Website: https://www.womensmemorial.org/history-of-black-women)
The bottom line is that Black women have supported the military in all ways. Sometimes by working at jobs normally performed by men, by raising their families with limited resources and supporting those on the fields and seas of battle.
Wars are not won just by those carrying guns and firing explosive shells, they are won by populations.
You don't read much, do you? I guess you don't know of countless Black women who operated as spies for the Union Army or as nurses for both sides.
"No documented records have been discovered of black women’s military service in the American Revolution. They may well have served alongside black men.
"During the Civil War, black women’s services included nursing or domestic chores in medical settings, laundering and cooking for the soldiers.
"Indeed, as the Union Army marched through the South and large numbers of freed black men enlisted, their female family members often obtained employment with the unit. The Union Army paid black women to raise cotton on plantations for the northern government to sell.
"Five black nurses served under the direction of Catholic nuns aboard the Navy hospital ship Red Rover. Four of their names—Alice Kennedy, Sarah Kinno, Ellen Campbell and Betsy Young—have been recorded.
"Black nurses are in the record books of both Union and Confederate hospitals. As many as 181 black nurses—both female and male—served in convalescent and US government hospitals in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina during the war."
(From the Website: https://www.womensmemorial.org/history-of-black-women)
The bottom line is that Black women have supported the military in all ways. Sometimes by working at jobs normally performed by men, by raising their families with limited resources and supporting those on the fields and seas of battle.
Wars are not won just by those carrying guns and firing explosive shells, they are won by populations.
