Marvel Comics has seen an increase in mainstream popularity with the recent release of several box-office hits such as “The Avengers.” Since its inception in 1939, the comic book company has created thousands of characters. While not all of them may get their due publicity because of a lack of exposure on the silver screen, each has interesting stories to tell in the print medium.
I’m thankful to have been raised in a generation that’s made many progressive steps toward curbing racism.
After growing up in a modern world with ideals that promote equality, my first reaction to the story presented in Marvel’s “Truth: Red, White and Black” was one that borders incredulity. A lot of what I found so unsettling seems more grounded on fact rather than fiction. The comic book showcases a history whose ugly head is often buried, and understandably so. But it’s also a history that’s undeniable as it is undeniably American.
The story views 1940s United States through the lens of several black protagonists during a time when overt racism was the standard. Among those characters is Isaiah Bradley, who would later become part of the urban legend known as the Black Captain America.
Bradley and the other protagonists wind up at Camp Cathcart – a racially segregated military base, common during World War II.
The ink in most World War II history books paints Nazi Germany in a shade of villainy with its massacre of Jewish people, but the United States – the heroes of the war – doesn’t have its transgressions against minorities exposed in those same pages. “Truth: Red, White & Black” accomplishes this by juxtaposing the two.
In one of the more radical events in the story, 300 black soldiers are used as test subjects against their volition in the military’s attempt to reproduce the “Super-Soldier Serum” that created Steve Rogers, better known as Captain America. If that rings any bells, it’s because those experiments were based on the events of the Tuskegee syphilis experiments, which subjected 600 black males to a study on the disease without their consent.
The military’s prejudice is further exposed in the comic as Bradley and the four other surviving test subjects all develop similar powers to Rogers, but can only serve as the military’s clandestine task force, while Captain America, the original Super Soldier, is continually lauded by the media. The five black soldiers are whittled down, either by side effects of the makeshift Super-Soldier Serum or as casualties of the war, until only Bradley remains.
He steals Captain America’s spare costume before heading out for his final mission to destroy the Nazi equivalent of the formula, and in the process, establishes his legacy as the Black Captain America.
Bradley’s return to his country after successfully completing his mission isn’t received with a hero’s welcome. Instead he’s sent to a lifetime of solitary confinement for wearing the symbol of American heroism without permission. Bradley is eventually pardoned 17 years into his sentence, but the side effects of the botched Super-Soldier Serum reduced Bradley to a sterile man with the mental capacity of a child.
The manner in which the military neglected Bradley’s service to his country mirrors a similar lack of recognition for World War II veterans, in particular how no black soldier was ever awarded a Medal of Honor for serving the country in World War II until 1997.
The series ends with Rogers meeting the Black Captain America. Rogers walks up to a wall of photos depicting Bradley posing alongside black cultural icons such as Angela Davis, Arthur Ashe, Spike Lee and Michael Jackson, and political activists like Bono, Robert Redford, John Lennon and Yoko Ono – all of whom seem to acknowledge the legacy of the Black Captain America.
In a symbolic gesture, Rogers returns the same battle-damaged Captain America costume Bradley wore in Germany before posing with Bradley for an addition to the wall. It’s a photo of two men – one white, one black, but both beaming with pride and both wearing the same American symbol on their chest.
Bradley may be a fictional character, but the Black Captain America represents the Americans who served a country that wouldn’t serve them – the true unsung heroes of World War II.