Blacks In The United States Armed Forces Black Soldiers In World War Ii

Author : Phillip McGuire
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813148995
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.91/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Taps For A Jim Crow Army written by Phillip McGuire and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2014-07-11 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many black soldiers serving in the U.S. Army during World War II hoped that they might make permanent gains as a result of their military service and their willingness to defend their country. They were soon disabused of such illusions. Taps for a Jim Crow Army is a powerful collection of letters written by black soldiers in the 1940s to various government and nongovernment officials. The soldiers expressed their disillusionment, rage, and anguish over the discrimination and segregation they experienced in the Army. Most black troops were denied entry into army specialist schools; black officers were not allowed to command white officers; black soldiers were served poorer food and were forced to ride Jim Crow military buses into town and to sit in Jim Crow base movie theaters. In the South, German POWs could use the same latrines as white American soldiers, but blacks could not. The original foreword by Benjamin Quarles, professor emeritus of history at Morgan State University, and a new foreword by Bernard C. Nalty, the chief historian in the Office of Air Force History, offer rich insights into the world of these soldiers.

Author : Alexis Clark
Publisher : The New Press
ISBN 13 : 1620971879
Total Pages : 173 pages
Book Rating : 4.71/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Enemies in Love written by Alexis Clark and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “New & Noteworthy” selection of The New York Times Book Review “Alexis Clark illuminates a whole corner of unknown World War II history.” —Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci “[A]n irresistible human story. . . . Clark's voice is engaging, and her tale universal.” —Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power and American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House A true and deeply moving narrative of forbidden love during World War II and a shocking, hidden history of race on the home front This is a love story like no other: Elinor Powell was an African American nurse in the U.S. military during World War II; Frederick Albert was a soldier in Hitler's army, captured by the Allies and shipped to a prisoner-of-war camp in the Arizona desert. Like most other black nurses, Elinor pulled a second-class assignment, in a dusty, sun-baked—and segregated—Western town. The army figured that the risk of fraternization between black nurses and white German POWs was almost nil. Brought together by unlikely circumstances in a racist world, Elinor and Frederick should have been bitter enemies; but instead, at the height of World War II, they fell in love. Their dramatic story was unearthed by journalist Alexis Clark, who through years of interviews and historical research has pieced together an astounding narrative of race and true love in the cauldron of war. Based on a New York Times story by Clark that drew national attention, Enemies in Love paints a tableau of dreams deferred and of love struggling to survive, twenty-five years before the Supreme Court's Loving decision legalizing mixed-race marriage—revealing the surprising possibilities for human connection during one of history's most violent conflicts.

Author : Jeffrey T. Sammons
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
ISBN 13 : 0700621385
Total Pages : 630 pages
Book Rating : 4.85/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Harlem's Rattlers and the Great War written by Jeffrey T. Sammons and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2015-09-26 with total page 630 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When on May 15, 1918 a French lieutenant warned Henry Johnson of the 369th to move back because of a possible enemy raid, Johnson reportedly replied: "I'm an American, and I never retreat." The story, even if apocryphal, captures the mythic status of the Harlem Rattlers, the African-American combat unit that grew out of the 15th New York National Guard, who were said to have never lost a man to capture or a foot of ground that had been taken. It also, in its insistence on American identity, points to a truth at the heart of this book--more than fighting to make the world safe for democracy, the black men of the 369th fought to convince America to live up to its democratic promise. It is this aspect of the storied regiment's history--its place within the larger movement of African Americans for full citizenship in the face of virulent racism--that Harlem's Rattlers and the Great War brings to the fore. With sweeping vision, historical precision, and unparalleled research, this book will stand as the definitive study of the 369th. Though discussed in numerous histories and featured in popular culture (most famously the film Stormy Weather and the novel Jazz), the 369th has become more a matter of mythology than grounded, factually accurate history--a situation that authors Jeffrey T. Sammons and John H. Morrow, Jr. set out to right. Their book--which eschews the regiment's famous nickname, the "Harlem Hellfighters," a name never embraced by the unit itself--tells the full story of the self-proclaimed Harlem Rattlers. Combining the "fighting focus" of military history with the insights of social commentary, Harlem's Rattlers and the Great War reveals the centrality of military service and war to the quest for equality as it details the origins, evolution, combat exploits, and postwar struggles of the 369th. The authors take up the internal dynamics of the regiment as well as external pressures, paying particular attention to the environment created by the presence of both black and white officers in the unit. They also explore the role of women--in particular, the Women's Auxiliary of the 369th--as partners in the struggle for full citizenship. From its beginnings in the 15th New York National Guard through its training in the explosive atmosphere in the South, its singular performance in the French army during World War I, and the pathos of postwar adjustment--this book reveals as never before the details of the Harlem Rattlers' experience, the poignant history of some of its heroes, its place in the story of both World War I and the African American campaign for equality--and its full i

Author : Michael L. Lanning
Publisher : Kensington Publishing Corp.
ISBN 13 : 0806536608
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The African American Soldier: written by Michael L. Lanning and published by Kensington Publishing Corp.. This book was released on 2012-08-24 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than five thousand blacks joined the rebel Americans in the war as soldiers, sailors, and marines; many more supported the rebellion as laborers. Their service went largely unrecognized and unrecorded. Few letters, journals, or other narratives by blacks about the Revolution exist because whites had denied most African Americans an education. White historians of the period, and for years after the war, ignored the contributions and impact of thousands of blacks participants for several reasons. First of all, prejudices were so deeply ingrained that it did not even occur to most whites of the time that blacks had played a significant role either as individuals who fought or labored or as a segment of the population that affected decisions. Prejudices also prevented some who did witness the contributions of African Americans from honestly reporting that blacks could perform equally with whites on the battlefield if given the opportunity. Others did not mention blacks because of the difficulty of explaining why the United States kept half a million men, women, and children enslaved while fighting for independence and liberty." From Defenders of Liberty, by Lt. Col. Michael Lee Lanning (Ret.)

Author : Morris J. MacGregor
Publisher : e-artnow
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 628 pages
Book Rating : 4.60/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940-1965 written by Morris J. MacGregor and published by e-artnow. This book was released on 2020-06-18 with total page 628 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In the quarter century that followed American entry into World War II, the nation's armed forces moved from the reluctant inclusion of a few segregated Negroes to their routine acceptance in a racially integrated military establishment. Nor was this change confined to military installations. By the time it was over, the armed forces had redefined their traditional obligation for the welfare of their members to include a promise of equal treatment for black servicemen wherever they might be. In the name of equality of treatment and opportunity, the Department of Defense began to challenge racial injustices deeply rooted in American society. For all its sweeping implications, equality in the armed forces obviously had its pragmatic aspects. In one sense it was a practical answer to pressing political problems that had plagued several national administrations. In another, it was the services' expression of those liberalizing tendencies that were permeating American society during the era of civil rights activism. But to a considerable extent the policy of racial equality that evolved in this quarter century was also a response to the need for military efficiency. So easy did it become to demonstrate the connection between inefficiency and discrimination that, even when other reasons existed, military efficiency was the one most often evoked by defense officials to justify a change in racial policy."_x000D_ Morris J. MacGregor, Jr., received the A.B. and M.A. degrees in history from the Catholic University of America. He continued his graduate studies at the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Paris on a Fulbright grant. Before joining the staff of the U.S. Army Center of Military History in 1968 he served for ten years in the Historical Division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Author : Alan M. Osur
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.92/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Blacks in the Army Air Forces During World War II written by Alan M. Osur and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is based upon a Ph. D. dissertation written by an Air Force officer who studied at the University of Denver. Currently an Associate Professor of History at the Air Force Academy, Major Osur's account relates how the leadership in the War Department and the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) tried to deal with the problem of race and the prejudices which were reflected in the bulk of American society. It tells a story of black racial protests and riots which such attitudes and discrimination provoked. The author describes many of the discriminatory actions taken against black airmen, whose goal was equality of treatment and opportunities as American citizens. He also describes the role of black pilots as they fought in the Mediterranean theater of operations against the Axis powers. In his final chapters, he examines the continuing racial frictions within the Army Air Forces which led to black servicemen protests and riots in 1945 at several installations.

Author : Chris Dixon
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107112699
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.98/5 ( download)

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Download or read book African Americans and the Pacific War, 1941–1945 written by Chris Dixon and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-20 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dixon provides the first comprehensive study of African American military and social experiences during the Pacific War.

Author : Peter N. Nelson
Publisher : ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN 13 : 1458767280
Total Pages : 454 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A More Unbending Battle: The Harlem Hellfighters' Struggle for Freedom in Wwi and Equality at Home written by Peter N. Nelson and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2010-03 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 369th Infantry Regiment was the first African American regiment mustered to fight in World War I. In a war where the vast majority of black soldiers served in the Service of Supply, unloading ships and building roads and railroads, the men of the 369th trained and fought side by side with the French at the front and ultimately spent more days in the trenches than any other American unit. They went toward in defense of a country afflicted by segregation, Jim Crow laws, lyn chings, and racial violence, but a country they believed in all the same. In A More Unbending Battle, journalist and author Peter Nelson chronicles the little-known story of the 369th. Recruited from all walks of Harlem life, the regiment fought alongside the French, since they were prohibited by Americas segregation policy from working together with white U.S. soldiers. Despite extraordinary odds, the 369th became one of the most successful and fear edregiments of the war. The Harlem Hell fighters, as their enemies named them, showed Extra ordinary valor on the battlefield, with many soldiers winning the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honor, and were the first Allied unit to reach the Rhine River. A riveting depiction of both social triumph and battlefield heroism, A More Unbending Battle is the thrilling story of the dauntless Harlem Hell fighters.

Author : Ulysses Lee
Publisher : CreateSpace
ISBN 13 : 9781516859290
Total Pages : 762 pages
Book Rating : 4.94/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Employment of Negro Troops written by Ulysses Lee and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-08-12 with total page 762 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recognizing that the story of Negro participation in military service during World War II was of national interest as well as of great value for future military planning, the Assistant Secretary of War in February 1944 recommended preparation of a book on this subject. The opportunity to undertake it came two years later with the assignment to the Army's Historical Division of the author, then a captain and a man highly qualified by training and experience to write such a work. After careful examination of the sources and reflection Captain Lee concluded that it would be impracticable to write a comprehensive and balanced history about Negro soldiers in a single volume. His plan, formally approved in August 1946, was to focus his own work on the development of Army policies in the use of Negroes in military service and on the problems associated with the execution of these policies at home and abroad, leaving to the authors of other volumes in the Army's World War II series, then taking shape, the responsibility for covering activities of Negroes in particular topical areas. This definition of the author's objective is needed in order to understand why he has described his work "in no sense a history of Negro troops in World War II." Writing some years ago, he explained: "The purpose of the present volume is to bring together the significant experience of the Army in dealing with an important national question: the full use of the human resources represented by that 10 percent of national population that is Negro. It does not attempt to follow, in narrative form, the participation of Negro troops in the many branches, commands, and units of the Army. . . . A fully descriptive title for the present volume, in the nineteenth century manner, would read: 'The U.S. Army and Its Use of Negro Troops in World War II: Problems in the Development and Application of Policy with Some Attention to the Results, Public and Military.'" Thus, in accordance with his objective, the author gives considerably more attention to the employment of Negroes as combat soldiers than to their use as service troops overseas. Even though a large majority of the Negroes sent overseas saw duty in service rather than in combat units, their employment in service forces did not present the same number or degree of problems.

Author : Adriane Lentz-Smith
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674054180
Total Pages : 331 pages
Book Rating : 4.89/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Freedom Struggles written by Adriane Lentz-Smith and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2010-03-01 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For many of the 200,000 black soldiers sent to Europe with the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, encounters with French civilians and colonial African troops led them to imagine a world beyond Jim Crow. They returned home to join activists working to make that world real. In narrating the efforts of African American soldiers and activists to gain full citizenship rights as recompense for military service, Adriane Lentz-Smith illuminates how World War I mobilized a generation. Black and white soldiers clashed as much with one another as they did with external enemies. Race wars within the military and riots across the United States demonstrated the lengths to which white Americans would go to protect a carefully constructed caste system. Inspired by Woodrow Wilson’s rhetoric of self-determination but battered by the harsh realities of segregation, African Americans fought their own “war for democracy,” from the rebellions of black draftees in French and American ports to the mutiny of Army Regulars in Houston, and from the lonely stances of stubborn individuals to organized national campaigns. African Americans abroad and at home reworked notions of nation and belonging, empire and diaspora, manhood and citizenship. By war’s end, they ceased trying to earn equal rights and resolved to demand them. This beautifully written book reclaims World War I as a critical moment in the freedom struggle and places African Americans at the crossroads of social, military, and international history.