The Unwept: Black American Soldiers and the Spanish-American War

Rating:
Summary: Revealing and Restoring American History
Review: Dr. Scott has performed an invaluable service in resurrecting and correcting the history of Afro-American troops in the Spanish-American War. Scott was fascinated by the involvement of his grandfather with Black soldiers and began to research his history. His personal search became a mission of justice that he has performed well in telling of the trials and tribulations of those who fought to survive in a war against oppression while subjected to it in their homeland before, during, and after the war was over. The one paramount question that the reader must ask after reading Scott's valuable contribution to Afro-American history is:Given the racism these people were subjected to, why did they fight at all? Scott answers that question and many more in flowing prose that avoids exaggeration, hyperbole, or dramatization which are not necessary given his well-researched facts. He sheds new light on an ambition-ridden, publicity-seeking Theodore Roosevelt and his changeable views on the bravery of Afro-American troops---who probably saved him and his Rough Riders on more than one occasion---while giving their due to the unknown personalities who, all too rarely, supported and appreciated the efforts of Black troops to fight and survive in the United States and Cuba. There are many interesting and little known facts in this book that will outrage many readers and, I hope, encourage them to read more about the travails of Afro-Americans involved in the American military throughout history. A true companion book to Scott's is "The Unknown Soldiers:Black Army Troops In World War I" by Arthur Barbeau. Together these two books provide an important, detailed, and corrective history of Afro-Americans in two wars over a period of twenty years.

Remarkable in itself is the fact that Scott is a White Southerner well-advanced in age who would have witnessed the horrors of Jim Crow and racism in Alabama throughout most of the Twentieth Century. Scott presents an interesting proposition as well: If Black soldiers had not fought as well as they did in Cuba, America may not have abandoned its isolationist stance of the time and its history may have been very different.

This is an indispensable book that every American interested in US military history or the history of Afro-Americans should have in their library. Scott has done a commendable job and made an important contribution to correcting a terrible historical omission and injustice.

Rating:
Summary: Published review
Review: Reprinted by permission of Birmingham Magazine

When reading a book about soldiers and war, one expects to see quite a few pictures. That is not the case in The Unwept: Black American Soldiers and the Spanish American War. And, in a sense, that's the point of the book.

Although African American soldiers played a crucial role in the defeat of the Spanish, their participation went virtually unheralded. (Thus, virtually unphotographed.) That is, until the late Dr. Edward Van Zile Scott began researching his grandfather's life and role in the Spanish-American War. Dr. Scott's grandfather, Col. Walter S. Scott, was the white commanding officer of a company of black U.S. infantrymen in the Indian wars of the late 1800s and in the Spanish-American War.

But, The Unwept is an immensely interesting book not just because it points out the little known fact of African American bravery and skill under fire. Dr. Scott also offers a refreshing perspective on the war itself and some of its more famous participants - Theodore Roosevelt and John J. Pershing.

The Unwept is interesting because of the details. After all, it is the small things, the kindness, the pettiness, the moments of bravery and clarity that mark our lives. The Unwept offers a rare thing - a researcher's attention to detail as well as a writer's insight and crafting.

- Birmingham Magazine - August, 1996