Civil War Intro: Blacks in the Civil War: A Series in Seven Parts

In August 2013, The Color of History I will begin posting an seven part series on the strong commitment, and brave contribution of Black/African American & Latino soldiers and citizens in the American Civil War.

Here are the topics to be covered, in the order in which they will be published.

1. Oh, Give Us a Flag!
2. The Howell Cobb statement
3. Antietam: A Turning Point?
4. The establishment of the Bureau of US Colored Troops(USCT)in      1863
5. Letter From a Soldier 
6. Spy vs Spy
7. The Siege of Petersburg, Va

Stop & Frisk: A History

Stop & Frisk, in New York and other American cities is just the latest version of the practice of white men with guns stopping black men because they viewed them as "suspicious". We know, full well by now, that during slavery armed "slavers" stopped black males wherever they found them, assuming them to be runaways, and therefore, subject to suspicion. 

But, even free black men and boys(free blacks numbered more than 400,000 in the 1700 & 1800's) could be stopped by anyone, and put in bondage, even if they had documents declaring them legally free. This practice continued after the Civil War, and the Emancipation Proclamation of 1865. 

In 1865/66, so called, Black Code laws were passed in southern states restricting the freedoms of blacks. This happened after the Civil War. Even so, these laws made free black men "suspicious", and subject to