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Probably every person in the United States has heard, at one time or another, how this country’s involvement in the Spanish-American War of 1898 resulted in the Cuba’s "liberation" from Spain, and how Admiral Dewey vanquished the Spanish fleet from the Philippines. What many people don’t know is that Spanish colonialism was replaced by American colonialism. The natives of the Philippines found they weren’t free after all, and – guess what – the United States found itself fighting "insurgents."
You may ask, "What does this have to do with this particular forum which is centered around black history?" Actually quite a bit because, although few people know, African Americans were involved in the fight against "the Philippine Insurrection." Not only were they fighting, they were dying. See the Horace Cayton Research page at www.aaahrp.org where you'll find a fatality report from the Seattle Republican (". . . following is the fatality roster from October 31, 1898 to January 28, 1899 of the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry now in the Philippines")
Little can be found about these black soldiers in literature about the campaign, but William Schroder, a local author, after spending four years researching and writing about the Philippine Campaign, has produced a wonderful book that sheds light on some of the activities. While Cousins of Color is a novel, it is an important book because it is based on historical fact; and, yes, it is based on African American history that is seldom presented.
Ed Diaz
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