The Right to Fight:
Significant Dates in The United States Military’s History of Racial
The musical Violet takes place in 1964, a turbulent time in the fight for civil rights. The title character in Violet
meets two soldiers on her journey: Monty, a white man, and Flick, an African-American man. Though Flick is
treated as every other soldier while he is serving, when he is traveling through the civilian world, particularly the
South, he is greeted with open hostility and reproach. While African-American civilians protested racial
segregation and their position as second-class citizens, African-American soldiers were integrated fully into
most branches of the U.S. military. Of all the battles black soldiers fought in American history, the battle for
integration was the most arduous. Below are some important dates in the history of the Army’s racial integration.
1770 - Crispus Attucks, an African American, was shot and killed in the Boston
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