"Duty beyond the Battlefield is meticulously researched and provides a new understanding of the complexity of Black military service during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Donaldson makes an invaluable contribution not only to military history but also to African American history."—Maurice Gipson, The Journal of African American History
"Duty beyond the Battlefield is instructive of the African American military experience and the black struggle for equality since the Civil War. Its nuanced analysis of black regulars in nineteenth-century American is a welcome addition to recent literature that has begun to see black soldiers as exemplars of racial uplift during the entrenchment of Jim Crow segregation."—Robert F. Jefferson, Pacific Historical Review
“In shining a light on this oft-overlooked period of American history, Donaldson expands the traditional narrative of America’s Civil Rights movement, arguing the movement from these soldiers’ struggles and triumphs.”—Jeffery Webb, On Point
“Donaldson's book is highly recommended. . . . [this book] will be approachable for history buffs and for those genuinely interested in learning more about military service’s racial politics.”—Holly A. Pinheiro Jr., The Journal of Southern History
"This well-researched book fills an important historiographical void, examining the contributions of African American soldiers from 1870 to 1920. Donaldson asks hitherto unexamined questions about black troops in the period from Reconstruction through WW I, focusing closely on how they defined citizenship and manhood through interactions with the larger African American community."—J. D. Smith, CHOICE
“Deeply researched and powerfully argued,
Duty beyond the Battlefield is a significant contribution to the history of black soldiers, manhood, and citizenship. With this fascinating book, Le’Trice D. Donaldson has established herself as one of the leading scholars of African American military history.”—
Chad L. Williams, author of
Torchbearers of Democracy: African American Soldiers in the World War I Era
“Donaldson’s work on black masculinity and military service is a welcome addition to multiple areas of history. The role of African American men has rarely been investigated with the attention she gives to gender. These men were attacking, and offering their lives, to disprove stereotypes not just about their race but about their manhood—a core of their identities. The diminution of black males as men has deep roots in slavery, and as Dr. Donaldson shows, military service was always intended as a counterattack on ignorance.”—
William Mulligan, editor of
A Badger Boy in Blue: The Civil War Letters of Chauncey H. Cooke— -