From Triumph to Tragedy: African American Soldiers Fight For Citizenship and Manhood in the Spanish-American-Cuban-Filipino War

The purpose of this study is to provide a re-examination of the black soldier in the Spanish-American-Cuban-Filipino War. Specifically, by adding a gender analysis, this study will demonstrate that black soldiers fought in the war for two principle reasons: first, it was a means of exercising their citizenship; and secondly, it was a means of demonstrating that they were real men. Reflecting on an era when proving one's manhood was a national obsession--this thesis provides a critical window through which we can reconstruct their motivations for fighting in America's first overseas war.