African American Women In World War 1 Essay

Women have been a very instrumental part of history, usually taking a background role, influencing man 's decisions from behind the curtain, so to speak, or they were the prostitutes that attempted to keep up the moral of the men. They were the nurses when they could be, and they were the faithful wives that gave the men something to look forward to. As Mark Twain said, “Custom inures the most sensitive person to that which is most repellent, and in the war we saw the most delicate woman, who could not at home endure the sight of blood, become so used to to scenes of carnage, that they walked right into the hospitals, and margins of battle fields, amid the poor remnants of torn humanity, with as perfect self-possession as if they were strolling in a flower garden.” (Warner) The American women, whether African American or not, served a great many purposes during the war, and though greatly varied from a seamstress to a recruiter, each was greatly needed by the men, and women, soldiers that fought in this war. …show more content…
To follow, if for only a moment the common idea of the home bound woman, “Just as many Union soldiers would not have survived without the “relief” provided by thousands of home-front women...” (Attie). An account from the southern side of the war stated that, “Destruction of home-front morale was the crucial factor that led to the massive number of desertions that left the Confederacy unable to fend off Federal advances.” (McKinney) Thus, it can be seen that, even without joining the fight in any form of physical way that the home-front woman was a help during the Civil War. They, above many other things, kept up the moral of the men, gave them something to fight