African Americans in World War II: Origins of the Civil Rights Movement

1. African Americans in World War II:Origins of the Civil Rights Movement HIS 265

2. 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

3. 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

4. Welders

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 92nd Division in Action, Italy Machine Gun Crew near Massa Entering Genoa

9. 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 of the Tuskegee Airmen

10. 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

11. Howard Perry & Dorie Miller

12. 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

13. Detroit Riot, 1943

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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