African Americans in African Americans in World War II:World War II:

Origins of the Civil Origins of the Civil Rights MovementRights Movement

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Preparing for War Only 5,000 blacks in army in 1940 Selective Service Act (Sept. 1940) forbade

discrimination– Many draft boards only accepted whites on

grounds there were no separate facilities for blacks– A. Philip Randolph, Walter White & T. Arnold

Hill submitted plan to FDR to desegregate armed forces & institute equal training & merit-based promotion

Token steps in Fall 1940: – Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. promoted to Brig. Gen.– William Hastie appointed civilian aide to Secretary

of War– ROTC units added at W. Virginia State, Hampton,

Tuskegee & Prairie View

The March on Washington Movement

Industrial plants hired white unemployed first, so blacks took jobs vacated by whites

A. Philip Randolph proposed 100,000-man march for July 1, 1945

FDR issued Executive Order 8802 June 25, 1941

Fair Employment Practices Committee received & investigated complaints, but had no authority to punish

Welders

African Americans in World War II

Over 3 million black men registered for draft, but 18.2% rejected on educational or medical grounds (compared to 8.5% of whites)

Approx. 1 million African Americans served in armed forces

African Americans in armed forces, Sept. 1944:– 701,678 in Army (86,000 in combat units)– 165,000 in Navy– 17,000 in Marine Corps– 5,000 in Coast Guard– 24,000 in Merchant Marine– 4,000 in Women’s Auxiliary Corps

497,566 serving overseas by Feb. 1945

A Segregated Army

War Dept. issued order in Oct. 1940 that whites & blacks would attend same officer training schools & held to same standard– some camp commanders reluctant to recommend

blacks at first– Only Air Corps had segregated training

Mostly served in segregated units under white officers, as in previous wars

Too often placed in support roles– Blacks made up 20% of engineering corps, 33% of

transportation corps & 44% of quartermaster corps– Only 12% of soldiers served in combat units

The European Theater

22 black combat units in Europe: – 9 field artillery, 1 anti-aircraft, 2 tank, 2

tank destroyer, & 8 engineer combat battalions

– 1st Army integrated some units at platoon level in 1945 due to manpower shortages

– 761st Tank Battalion fought in Battle of Bulge

– 92nd Division earned over 12,000 decorations & citations fighting in Italy

– Capt. Charles L. Thomas of 614th Tank Destroyer battalion & 1st Lt. John L. Fox of 92nd Division among 7 recipients of Medal of Honor in Jan. 1997

Logo of the 92nd Division

92nd Division in Action, Italy

Machine Gun Crew near Massa Entering Genoa

The Tuskegee Airmen

Served overseas in Mediterranean theater

Escorted bombers & flew strafing runs

94th Pursuit Squadron initially part of 79th Pursuit Group with 3 white units

Moved to all-black 332nd Fighter Group in 1944

Commanded by Col. Benjamin Davis, Jr.

Over 80 pilots won Distinguished Flying Cross

Lena Horne and some ofthe Tuskegee Airmen

The Pacific Theater Blacks allowed to enlist in Navy & Marine Corps for

the first time in spring 1942– Dorie Miller became hero for shooting down 4 Japanese

planes during Pearl Harbor attack– Howard Perry was 1st black Marine– 51st Defense Battalion assigned to guard duty in Marshall

Islands in 1944– By fall 1944, 500 black seamen serving on 25 large auxiliary

vessels, mostly in Pacific– 12,500 served in Seabees– 24,500 served in merchant marine - 18 ships named after

African Americans 24th Infantry helped take New Georgia Islands in May

1942 93rd Division saw action at Bougainville, Treasury

Islands, Morotai & Philippines

Howard Perry & Dorie Miller

Trouble on the Home Front

Most camps located in South, so racial incidents occurred inevitably– Some camp commanders banned black newspapers &

segregated transportation and entertainment– War Dept. issued order in July 1944 forbidding

segregation, but met with hostility– Serious riots at Ft. Bragg, Camp Robinson, Camp Davis,

Camp Lee & Ft. Dix Renewed Great Migration led to renewed racial

tension in northern cities– 65 black colleges participated in Engineering, Science &

management War Training Program - represented triumph of Booker T. Washington’s model

– June 1943 riot in Detroit left 25 blacks and 9 whites dead

Detroit Riot, 1943

The “Double V” Campaign

Pittsburg Courier launched “Double V” campaign to fight racism at home as well as abroad

NAACP membership increased from 50,000 to 400,000

James Farmer founded CORE (Congress Of Racial Equality) to fight segregation in Chicago

Wartime Propaganda

Office of War Information hired Ted Poston as advisor– Used black journalists, artists &

photographers Propaganda emphasized U.S.

as egalitarian melting pot in contrast to Nazi racism– Films featured multiethnic

platoons, but rarely included African Americans

– Frank Capra produced The Negro Soldier in 1944 – became mandatory viewing for all soldiers

Liberals Rethink Race

Blatant racism of Nazis caused white liberals to reassess importance of racial discrimination

Ashley Montagu’s Man’s Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race & Ruth Benedict’s The Races of Mankind were best-sellers in 1942-43

Gunnar Myrdal’s An American Dilemma (1944) was exhaustive study– Saw discrimination as glaring exception to the

“American Creed” – Called on Americans to live up to their ideals and

eliminate prejudice and segregation

Truman and Desegregation

Freedom to Serve (1948) outlined steps

Executive Order 9981 began process

All jobs opened to qualified personnel regardless of race in 1949

Gen. Matthew Ridgeway integrated army in Korea, 1950-51