From the storied Buffalo Soldiers to the first black woman combat pilot, the courage of black Americans has defined the U.S. military since our country’s birth.

The history of African American service in the United States military dates back to the country’s genesis. In fact, black Americans have served in every U.S. war to date, from the Revolutionary War to the Iraq War.

In honor of African American History Month, we’re highlighting some of the black American heroes who have served in the military throughout the years to ensure the liberty and safety of all Americans.

1. 54th Massachusetts Infantry

Assigned to command the assault on a South Carolina Confederate fort during the battle at Battery Wagner in July 1863, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry of the Civil War was composed primarily of freed black slaves from northern Union states.

Though the siege was unsuccessful, the heroism of a number of members of the infantry drew the attention of the nation. In particular, Sgt. William Carney risked his life to lead the troops forward, erecting the Union flag. He suffered two bullet wounds but survived, going on to become the first African American to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for his unprecedented courage.

2. Buffalo Soldiers

The Buffalo Soldiers consisted of six black regiments that served in the peacetime Army following the Civil War. Among their most notable members was Benjamin O. Davis Sr., who served as a squadron sergeant major through 1900, but would go on to become the first African American Brigadier General in the U.S. military in 1940.

Stationed throughout the southwest and across the Great Plains, the troops maintained order and combated illegal land-grabbing. Members of the 9th and 10th cavalries of the Buffalo Soldiers guarded the United States’ southern border, served in the Spanish-American War and fought against Pancho Villa, the Mexican revolutionary.

3. 369th Infantry Harlem Hellfighters

The 369th Infantry, who came to be known as the “Harlem Hellfighters,” were among the first U.S. troops to deploy to France during World War I. The infantry fought at Chateau-Thierry and Belleau Wood for a total of 191 days in combat—longer than any other American unit in the war.

In the spring of 1918, they were attacked by German troops on the Western Front, suffering a number of casualties but refusing to surrender. Indeed, their commander Colonel William Hayward once said, “My men never retire, they go forward or they die.”

The Harlem Hellfighters became the first Americans to receive the Croix de Guerre—a French military decoration for valor—for taking Sechault. 171 of the unit’s service members received individual medals for their bravery.

4. The Tuskegee Airmen

The Tuskegee Airmen were members of the first all-black aviation program in the U.S. military at Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute. The formation of the program in 1941 was met with resistance, as many African Americans were outraged at the prolongation of segregation in the military.

In May of 1943, a group of pilots from the Tuskegee Institute deployed to North Africa to join the Allied efforts of World War II. The airmen were led by Capt. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. (son of Buffalo Soldier Benjamin O. Davis Sr., mentioned above), who later became the first black Air Force general.

The airmen are largely credited with leading the charge on military integration. Members of the 99th Fighter Squadron were especially heralded for their collaboration with the white 79th Fighter Group in 1943, as well as their March 1945 mission to Berlin, which resulted in no loss of friendly bombers.

5. Samuel L. Gravely Jr., first black Navy admiral

Beginning his military career as a Navy Reserve officer, Samuel L. Gravely Jr. eventually became an active-duty sailor aboard the PC 1264, a submarine chaser known as one of the only two WWII ships with a primarily black crew.

In a career spanning nearly four decades, Gravely became not only the first African American to command a U.S. Navy warship, but the first to command any American warship under combat conditions since the Civil War. He became the first black admiral (and later, the first black vice admiral) and the first black American to command a U.S. fleet.

6. Hazel Johnson-Brown, first black woman Army general

Born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Hazel Johnson-Brown enlisted in the Army in 1955, shortly after President Truman ended segregation and introduced new anti-discrimination legislation in the U.S. military. During her active-duty service, Johnson-Brown obtained a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Villanova University, a master's degree in nursing education from Columbia University and a doctorate in education administration from Catholic University of America.

Johnson-Brown was named director of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Nursing and simultaneously served as the first black chief of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. In 1979, she achieved the ranking of brigadier general—the first African American woman in the Army to do so.

7. Colin Powell, first black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

The son of Jamaican immigrants, Colin Powell graduated from City College of New York with an ROTC commission as a second lieutenant in the Army. During two separate tours of Vietnam, Powell commanded a battalion, a brigade and the Army V Corps. He has received two Presidential Medals of Freedom, the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, a Purple Heart and British knighthood.

Powell served as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993, the primary military advisor for President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton. Powell later served as President George W. Bush’s Secretary of State.

8. Vernice Armour, first black woman combat pilot

After serving as the first black woman police officer in Tempe, Arizona, Vernice Armour attended flight school at the Naval air stations in Corpus Christi, Texas, and then in Pensacola, Florida. She graduated first not only of her class but of the prior 200 graduates.

At the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in Southern California, Armour was named 2001 Camp Pendleton Female Athlete of the Year, played on the San Diego Sunfire women’s football team and won Camp Pendleton’s Strongest Warrior Competition twice.

In 2003, flying an HMLA-169 in Iraq, Armour became the first African American woman combat pilot. She completed two tours of duty, and since her retirement from the military has toured as a professional inspirational speaker.