Why It Sucked Being Black In World War 2

the Negro does not perform his share of civil duties in time

the Negro does not perform his share of civil duties in time of Peace in proportion to his population he has no leaders in industrial or commercial life he takes no part in government compared to the white man he is admittedly of inferior mentality he is inherently weak in character these were words written in an official Army war College document in 1925 would cast a long Shadow over the lives of more than 1 million African-American men and women who answered their nation's call during World War II but these same soldiers who were discriminated against would prove those words devastatingly wrong they would fight not one war but two against fascism in blood soaked battlefields abroad and Against Racism on the very soil they swore to protect this is their story for over 200 years African-Americans have fought in every single conflict in United States history the Revolutionary War the Civil War World War I but there was always a catch a dark reality that exposed America's deepest hypocrisies you see these brave men weren't just fighting America's enemies they they were fighting a system designed to treat them as second class citizens A system that forced them to serve in segregated units A system that denied them the most basic Dignity of fighting alongside their fellow Americans all because of the color of their skin then came September 1940 as War raged through Europe civil rights leaders saw an opportunity they pressured President Franklin D Roosevelt to finally end this discrimination to allow black men to serve an integrated regim ments through the new Selective Service and training act i Franklin D Roosevelt president of the United States of America under and by virtue of the authority vested in Me by the afores said selective training and Service Act of 1940 on paper it looked like progress the ACT explicitly outlawed racial discrimination but this was America in 1940 and the reality was far more sinister Roosevelt's appointee secretary of War Henry Stimson had zero interest in changing the Status Quo instead of integration black men could only be accepted if there were openings and units and training facilities specifically designated for their race it was segregation just wrapped in new paperwork for centuries black Americans had given their Blood Sweat and Tears to a country that saw them as nothing more than tools ripped from their Homeland Shackled In Chains and forced to build the very foundations of America's wealth only to be met with whips nooses and laws designed to keep them in bondage even after slavery ended the system found new ways to break them Jim Crow sharecropping lynch mobs no matter how much black people gave America would never see them as equal but despite it all black Americans never stopped fighting never stopped working never stopped believing in something greater and when World War II came despite every reason not to they answered the call over 1.2 million black men and women stepped forward ready to serve a country that had done nothing but betray them and how did that country repay them by building a military so segregated it could have been ripped straight from the pages of a Jim Crow manual bases across the South became Laboratories of racial division separate Barracks separate hospitals even separate blood banks as if the very lifeblood of a black soldier was unworthy to mix with his white counterpart the majority of these segregated training facilities were strategically placed in the South where Jim Crow laws could reinforce the military segregation policies but the largest installation for black soldiers wasn't even in the South it was Fort Huka isolated in the Arizona desert far from white population centers at these bases black soldiers faced a level of hostility that bordered on the unbelievable white officers many specifically chosen from the south routinely harassed them local white civilian communities slurred and degraded them and the ultimate insult German prisoners of war the very enemies these men were sent to fight were given more respect on American soil than black soldiers who wore the US Uniform professor Matthew of Dartmouth College describes it with brutal honesty they were often held in slavish conditions and were treated like animals they were called racial epithets quite regularly and just not afforded respect either as soldiers or human beings this was the America of 1940 a nation calling on its black citizens to fight fascism abroad while practicing its own form of Oppression at home a nation that would send 1.2 million African-Americans into World War II not as equals but as segregated soldiers in a segregated military and yet despite every humiliation every Injustice every reminder that their lives were worth less in the eyes of their own government black soldiers fought anyway because that's what black Americans have always done not just endure but rise not just serve but Excel not just fight but win but these stories aren't told nearly enough too much of our history has been buried ignored or whitewashed that's why we're here to uncover the truth and give our ancestors the recognition they deserve if you want more stories like this make sure to subscribe to Black stories Untold and help us keep this history alive you see the military segregation wasn't just about keeping black and white soldiers apart when they trained or slept oh no it goes much deeper than that the military leadership steeped in the same ideology that had Justified centuries of Oppression refused to see black men as Warriors they could build the nation bleed for the nation die for the nation but to defend it with a weapon in hand that was too much power too much agency too much of a threat instead they were relegated to service units cooking meals fixing Vehicles backbreaking labor designed to keep them in their so-called place yes this work was essential but let's be real it was never about necessity it was about control it was about making sure that black men no matter how willing how capable how Fearless were kept far away from the front lines of battle Christopher Paul Moore put it perfectly in his book fighting for America black Americans carrying weapons either as infantry tank Corp or as Pilots was simply an unthinkable notion because to arm black men to train them as equals on the battlefield would shatter the lie that had been upheld for Generations that black people were meant to serve not to lead that they were meant to obey not to conquer and who did the military often choose to command black units white officers from the south the very region where Jim Crow laws were born and bred the very men most likely to embrace and enforce racial hierarchies this was by Design the military deliberately positioned these officers to maintain what they called proper racial relations it was Jim crowan uniform wrapped in the American flag even when black soldiers proved themselves time and time again the system remained rigid their Authority was restricted their opportunities were limited but no matter how hard they tried they couldn't erase the truth black soldiers weren't just fit to fight they were fit to win and that terrified them and yet despite every barrier every insult and every attempt to hold them back some black soldiers still went on to become Living Legends they shattered expectations defied the odds and forced a nation that despised them to acknowledge their Brilliance on the battlefield but who were these men and why have so many of their stories been buried forgotten or erased from history take Edward a Carter born in 1916 this wasn't his first time fighting fascism before World War II he'd already fought against fascism in Spain he spoke Hindi Chinese and German a skilled Warrior by any measure so what did the US military do with this experienced fighter they made him a cook that's right a man with combat experience against fascism was relegated to kitchen duty all because of his race but when the Army finally ran low on soldiers and needed more men for combat Carter stepped up he fought so well he earned the Medal of Honor one of only seven black soldiers to receive this decoration in World War II The Catch he wouldn't live to receive it the military that had ignored his fighting experience and forced him to work as a cook only awarded him this highest honor after his death in 1963 but perhaps no story better exposes the military's prejudices than that of Doris Dory Miller at Pearl Harbor like most black Sailors Miller was restricted to being a cook and laundry attendant aboard the USS West Virginia the Navy didn't think black men should handle weapons then came December 7th 1941 as Japanese planes rain bullets and bombs on Pearl Harbor Miller didn't hesitate he carried wounded Sailors to safety including his own Captain then he spotted an abandoned 50 caliber anti-aircraft gun remember Miller had received no weapons training the Navy didn't allow it but for 15 minutes this untrained cook manned that gun firing at Japanese aircraft until his ammunition ran out when asked later how he did it Miller simply said it wasn't hard I just pulled the trigger and she worked fine I had watched the others with these guns Miller became the first African-American to receive the Navy cross and then there's Vernon Baker in 1945 near VR Rio Italy Baker LED his platoon through the gothic line one of the German Army's most formidable defensive positions over 2 days Baker personally destroyed multiple German machine gun positions killed three Germans at one position took out two more at an observation post LED attacks on two more machine gun nests when his fellow soldiers were wounded he drew enemy fire to protect them the next night he volunteered to lead a battalion through minefields for this extraordinary courage Baker received the distinguished service cross in 1945 but the military's racism would persist it would take 52 years before he finally received the Medal of Honor he deserved becoming the first African-American to receive this highest decoration for World War II service three men three examples of extraordinary courage three stories that expose the absurdity of military segregation but these men weren't the only ones who shattered the LIE of black inferiority in the military there was another group one that fought high above the battlefield in the skies they took on the enemy at 30,000 ft outmaneuvering outgunning and outclassing anyone who doubted them who were these Fearless Pilots their story is one the military never wanted to tell but it's one you need to hear in 1939 with the start of war in Europe the US government created the civilian pilot training program a federally funded segregated program that for the first time allowed black Americans to train on combat aircraft this was just the first step civil rights groups seized the opportunity pushing for these trained black Pilots to be accepted into the military's ranks and surprisingly their pressure worked in January 1941 Secretary of War Harry stemson approved a plan that would change history the formation of an all black 99th Fighter Squadron with training to be conducted at Tuskegee Alabama the same Institute once led by Booker T Washington but here's the thing the US government expected them to fail leaders at the time thought black soldiers simply couldn't handle the complexities of Air Combat but they were wrong devastatingly wrong these pilots who became known as the Tuskegee Airmen flew more than 15,000 sorties between 1943 and 1945 together they destroyed 112 enemy aircraft their success in escorting bombers was so remarkable they achieved one of the lowest loss records of all escort fighter groups Allied bomber units specifically requested them for protection eventually the 99th squadron's Excellence couldn't be ignored they earned two presidential unit citations one for their outstanding Tactical Air support and aerial combat in Italy and another for their achievement in May 1944 but perhaps their most legendary achievement came on March 24th 1945 The 332nd Fighter Group another Tuskegee unit flew their longest bomber escort Mission all the way to Berlin during the single Mission they destroyed three German jet fighters and damaged five more and while the Tuskegee Airmen fought valiantly over the Skies of Europe another fight was being fought back home a fight that made maybe was even more important it all started with a letter in January 1942 James G Thompson a black man from Kansas wrote to the Pittsburgh Courier being an American of dark complexion in some 26 years these questions flash through my mind should I sacrifice my life to live half American will things be better for the next Generation in the peace to follow would it be demanding too much to demand full citizenship rights in exchange for the sacrificing of my life is the kind of America I know worth defending the Pittsburgh Courier one of the nation's leading African-American newspapers responded by creating something powerful the double V campaign 2vs one for victory over the Axis powers abroad another for victory over racial discrimination at home the campaign spread like wildfire African-American communities Across the Nation mobilized churches organ organizations schools they all embraced the double v using it to Rally volunteers for the war effort while highlighting the fight for civil rights but this wasn't just clever symbolism the double V campaign laid bare an uncomfortable truth while V was the World War II symbol that unified the Allied war effort for democracy Jim Crow laws continued to deny African-Americans their basic citizenship rights equal work opportunities housing schools public facilities all remained segregated the campaign's impact would Echo far beyond the War years it helped build the foundation for the postwar Civil Rights Movement black soldiers returning from fighting fascism abroad were no longer willing to accept systemic racism at home but sometimes military necessity accomplishes what moral arguments cannot in the winter of 1944 the US military faced a crisis the Battle of the Bulge had inflicted over 80,000 cash casualties creating a severe shortage of infantry Replacements suddenly the color line didn't seem so important commanders received orders to integrate black volunteers into any unit that needed them even General Dwight Eisenhower who initially resisted the order had to form black volunteer platoon for combat units the results these integrated units proved what black soldiers had known all along they could fight just as effectively as anyone else but perhaps the most most dramatic breakthrough came in the Marine Corps in June 1942 the corps began recruiting its first Black Marines since 1798 these men would train at Montford Point North Carolina Major General Thomas hul the Marine Corps commandant resented being forced to accept African-Americans unlike the Army the Marine Corps refused to let any black men become officers until November 1945 the Discrimination was so ingrained that in May 1943 private RJ wood was arrested for impersonating a marine while traveling home on leave to Cleveland the police didn't even know Black Marines existed in North Carolina a policeman slapped Edgar Cole's official orders from his hand refusing to let him wait for his Marine driver but on the battlefield these Montford Point Marines proved themselves repeatedly distinguishing themselves in the battles of pelu Sian iojima and okanawa by 1944 4 over 18,000 Marines had trained at Montford point with 12,000 serving overseas the Navy too was forced to change after Pearl Harbor the heroics of men like Dory Miller led to more black Sailors being sent to seea in combat roles on March 20th 1944 the USS Mason made history as the first Navy ship with a predominantly black crew in 1946 President Harry Truman couldn't ignore these black Heroes anymore after learning that black soldiers fresh from fighting overseas were being beaten in Mississippi he told a friend my stomach turned he was referring to a soldier named Isaac Woodard who was attacked and lost his sight Truman appointed an interracial committee to investigate civil rights their final report was damning it denounced Jim Crow laws and called for an end to segregation and in 1948 Truman signed executive order 9,981 ordering the full integration of America's Armed Forces the order was controversial it didn't explicitly mention ending all forms of segregation but by the end of the Korean War the transformation was nearly complete almost all of the military was integrated think about this journey over 1.2 million African-Americans served in World War II they drove Supply trucks through enemy territory they flew escort missions over Berlin they fought in the Pacific jungles they stormed the beaches on D-Day they did all this while facing segregated blood banks segregated Barracks segregated officers clubs they did it while being relegated to service roles denied leadership positions and treated as second-class Citizens in their own military as th Good Marshall who would become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice put it this way in recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings we pay ourselves the highest tribute during World War II r barriers and segregation began to collapse not because America suddenly embraced equality but because African-Americans fought and worked for their country with such Dedication that the lies of racism could no longer stand this is their legacy not just as soldiers Sailors Airmen and Marines who helped defeat fascism abroad but as Americans who forced their own Nation to confront racism and the struggle didn't stop with World War II the fight for black liberation had existed for centuries led by Visionaries who refused to accept anything less than true Freedom one of the most powerful was Marcus Garvey a man who built a global movement to uplift black people and challenge the forces that sought to keep them down his legacy still shapes the fight for black empowerment today watch our video to uncover the rise fall and lasting impact of Marcus garvey's movement this was black story St Untold and as always thanks for watching

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This chapter of the story continues from the previous section.

This chapter of the story continues from the previous sectio

This chapter of the story continues from the previous section.

This chapter of the story continues from the previous sectio

This chapter of the story continues from the previous section.

This chapter of the story continues from the previous sectio

This chapter of the story continues from the previous section.