NPS | Following the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish American War in December of 1898, the United States took control of the former Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
Companies from the segregated Black infantry regiments reported to the Presidio of San Francisco on their way to the Philippines in early 1899. In February of that year Filipino nationalists (Insurectos)
led by Emilio Aguinaldo resisted the idea of American domination and
began attacking U.S. troops, including the 24th and 25th Infantry
regiments.
The 9th and 10th Cavalry were sent to the Philippines as
reinforcements, bringing all four Black regiments plus African American
national guardsmen into the war against the Insurectos.
Within the Black community in the United States there was
considerable opposition to intervention in the Philippines. Many Black
newspaper articles and leaders supported the idea of Filipino
independence and felt that it was wrong for the United States to
subjugate non-whites in the development of what was perceived to be the
beginnings of a colonial empire. Bishop Henry M. Turner characterized
the venture in the Philippines as "an unholy war of conquest." (21)
But many African Americans felt a good military showing by Black
troops in the Philippines would reflect favorably and enhance their
cause in the United States.
