Black soldiers’ bid for citizenship rested on the racist assumption of deficient Black manhood

Evidence

During his Boston stay, Villard accompanied the Garrisons about thirteen miles south to watch the drilling exercises of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. In January 1863, Lincoln had asked the Massachusetts governor to organize a Black regiment. “Men of Color, to Arms!” became the rallying point for Black male leaders. By fighting in the army, Black men were made to believe that they could earn their right to citizenship—as if Black men had to—or could—earn their rights. Black male leaders spoke endlessly of soldiers vindicating Black manhood, which itself rested on the racist assumption that there was something truly lacking in Black manhood that could only be ameliorated by killing or being killed by Confederates. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 598

Categorization

• XREF: The claim that even Black leaders’ manhood-vindication rhetoric rested on racist assumptions echoes the assimilationist trap — well-meaning agency can still be racist-positioned. Also touches the intersection of racism and sexism the reader might connect to ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ territory on gender.