African Americans in WWII

Discrimination in the Armed Forces

• Marine Corps and Army Air Corps – refused to accept African-American enlistees

• Navy – accepted them on an as-needed basis

• Army – accepted them only as replacement in existing

African-American units

Life in the Military

• Boot camps – Segregated– Hostile

• Subordinate jobs – rarely in combat units

Troops in WWII

• 99th Pursuit Squadron –Tuskegee Airmen– it was the first African-American unit (1941)– flew in the North African Campaign.

• 332nd Fighter Group –bomber escort unit – only fighter group without a single escort bomber

casualty.

• Dorie Miller – Mess attendant at Pearl Harbor– shot down two enemy planes & received Navy Cross

Troops continued• African-Americans in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers –

built roads in the Pacific

• Red Ball Express – A massive convoy that supplied troops– 75% were African Americans

• 6888th Postal Battalion – A unit of African-American women – mail redistribution to the front line.

• 92nd Infantry Division –Buffalo Soldiers– lost nearly a third of its men during the Italian campaign.

“What This Country Needs Is a Good Mental Insecticide”PM (June 11, 1942)

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/politicaldrseuss/mag_05.html

“Listen maestro…if you want to get real harmony, use the black keys as well as the white!”

PM (June 29, 1942)

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/politicaldrseuss/seuss_fla.html

http://www.nisk.k12.ny.us/fdr/1943/43_gifs/small/43040802.GIF

Only in America

ONLY, IN AMERICA—Can a childSit and Dream:Golden Dreams.FantasticDreams,Dreamsthat are aggrandized;And then awake one morning,To find themRealized!

ONLY, IN AMERICA—Can a mothertell her SonSomeday,You’ll be the President!Leader of the Mass!And before Age tints with silver tones,This thinghas come to pass.

ONLY, IN AMERICA—Can a Manboldly say;He doesn’t like the governmentOr the men who run the state:Here the laws are FOR THE PEOPLE:This does not alternate.

ONLY, IN AMERICA—Is a whole Nation Free;Free to vote,To enterprise,With impartiality;And Opportunity lends to ALLA Free and Equal hand…Did I say ALL?Well, that is ALL except the Negro Man.

--Rhoza A. Walker, The Crisis, February 1945.

United We WinPhotograph by Alexander Liberman, 1943

Above and Beyondthe Call of Duty

by David Stone Martin

Private Joe Louis Says--

* Joe Louis was a famous heavyweight boxing champion

1943- Inspiring WWII production poster featuring African-American soldier Obie Bartlett who lost his right arm at Pearl Harbor and continued in the war effort as a welder.

Tuskegee Airmen

2. In what ways did African-Americans who volunteered for the armed services duringWorld War II encounter discrimination? (Both the Marine Corps and Army Air Corpsrefuse to accept African-American enlistees; the Navy accepts them on an as-neededbasis, while the Army accepts them only as replacement in existing African-Americanunits; recruits are put in segregated units in boot camp and experience discriminationand hostility; they are placed in subordinate jobs and never in combat units.)

3. Describe the contributions of each of the following African-American individuals orunits during World War II:99th Pursuit Squadron – (Also known as the Tuskegee Airmen, it was the first African-American unit, formed by the War Department in 1941 and flew in the North AfricanCampaign.)332nd Fighter Group – (African-American bomber escort unit that ended the war as theonly fighter group without a single escort bomber casualty.)Dorie Miller – (Mess attendant aboard the U.S.S. West Virginia during the bombing ofPearl Harbor who shoots down two enemy planes in spite of having had no training.)

African-Americans in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – (They help build the 300-mile Ledo Road from India to western China and the 1,500-mile Alcan Highway fromBritish Columbia to Alaska.)Red Ball Express – (A massive convoy that supplies troops in Western Europe; 75% ofthe drivers are African-American.)6888th Postal Battalion – (A unit of African-American women who break all records formail redistribution to the front line.)92nd Infantry Division – (Also known as the Buffalo Soldiers, the division lost nearly athird of its men in harsh fighting during the Italian campaign.)

We say glibly that in the United States of America all men are free and equal, but do we treat them as if they were? . . . There is religious and racial prejudice everywhere in the land, and if there is a greater obstacle anywhere to the attainment of the teamwork we must have, no one knows what it is.

Arthur Upham Pope, Chairman of the Committee for National Morale, inAmerica Organizes to Win the War

• Why was Uncle Sam doing what he was doing?

• What was that saying about American public opinion?

• Why did Uncle Sam say what he said?

• What was that saying about American public opinion?