Designed as a small, easily read text for undergraduates, this book deals with the black soldier, from the use of slaves in the military units of the Spanish Conquistadores and the English and Dutch colonists in the seventeenth century, to the induction of General Colin Powell as head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the fall of 1989. The work focuses on a number of themes including the irony of the black soldier fighting for the American concepts of freedom and liberty on the field of battle and not free himself from the racial abuses of the American social system. Intended as a supplemental reading, this book is ideal for military history courses, black history courses, or even United States survey courses.