Aguinaldo's Navy

Interesting video.
The soldiers in uniform are palpably not Filipinos,
they are African-Americans who volunteered (or were volunteered by their
masters) to join the contingent to Manila.
I still have not researched on the
origin and context of this clip however we can presuppose that
the American military forces used this clip to
portray the revolutionary forces led by Emilio Aguinaldo
as frail and defenseless.
Apparently, it was used to convince the American populace, particularly those
who were against US expansion to Asia and the families of those drafted
to the army and sent to the Philippines,
that the war could be easily won by the Americans.
The clip also establishes that the Filipinos were inferior compared
to the Americans, thus, furthering the imagination of the viewers
that the Filipinos were barbaric, uncivilized and helpless.