African-Americans in Defense of the Nation

James T. Controvich has been publishing research oriented bibliographies for both the private sector and government military history programs for more than 25 years. His Scarecrow Press bibliography of United States Army Unit and Organizational histories has won major awards: Thomas Jefferson Prize for Best Reference Book of the Year, Society for History in the Federal Government 2003 Prize for Best Military History Book of the Year, Reference Category, Society for Military History 2004.

While we now see the contribution of the African American in American history as crucial and necessary to understand the “bigger picture,” this was not always the case. African-Americans in the Defense of the Nation will prove to be invaluable to the researcher because it encompasses so many early bibliographies of the “contribution and participation of African Americans in American wars, and this book covers both military exploits and home front support.” Controvich, who has a long history of compiling bibliographies and is an “avid collector of army unit histories,” presents a solid piece of scholarship here that will undoubtedly help future researchers. The topic is frequently more difficult with the “large number of descriptors that were used to describe the African American service person: Black, Colored, African American, Afro-American, Negro, and Freedman.” This work is organized chronologically and topically into chapters that cover both sexes too. This is a useful work filled with good research that is highly recommended.