Why Glenn Beck Needs To Read This Blog

While flipping through the channels this evening I came across an interview with Glenn Beck in which he excoriated our 28th President, Woodrow Wilson. Amongst the list of sins committed by Wilson, Beck made the stunning allegation that Wilson “resegregated the United States army.”

Yes, RE-segregated.

Now, if you’re like me, you’re probably asking yourself…well, Glenn, when exactly was the army DE-segregated prior to the election of 1912 (excluding, of course, the 500,000 blacks who fought for the Confederacy – sorry, I just couldn’t resist)?

Pretty sure United States Colored Troops served in segregated units…

…and the 9th & 10th Cavalry and 24th & 25th Infantry who served after the Civil War…

…and then the 92nd & 93rd Divisions who went on to fight in Mr. Wilson’s War.

Sure, you could make a case that African Americans served in desegregated units during the American War of independence and the War of 1812, but to say that this was the standard policy is beyond problematic.

I think what Mr. Beck was referring to was the segregation that went into affect under Wilson in such government entities as the Treasury and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. But not the army.

Beck seems to be pushing some strange narrative in which everything was hunky-dory in the United States until big bad Woodrow Wilson came into power. Please don’t mistake this as an endorsement or defense of the policies of Woodrow Wilson – but there was that pesky little slavery issue that plagued the country prior to Wilson’s administration.

I propose that Mr. Beck tour the exhibit that I helped create – Take Our Stand: The African American Military Experience in the Age of Jim Crow, which deals directly with some of the real issues that African Americans in the military in the early 20th century had to deal with.

And then he can have me on his show and help promote my New Market Heights book.

Hey, I’m just sayin’…