Attacking Multiple Fronts: The Tuskegee Airmen as Pioneers of Military Integration

Military service has long been associated with citizenship, and blacks have been part of every American war since the founding of this nation. Five thousand fought in the Revolutionary War, 180,000 fought in segregated units during the Civil War, and 380,000 enrolled in World War One. Although black participation increased with each major conflict, only 42,000 of the blacks in World War One belonged to combat units, a result of 20th century racial tensions that turned opinion against the use of black soldiers. Segregation persisted within the military establishment, including military aviation, through World War Two. Within a span of ten years, however, the Army Air Corps moved from having no African Americans among its ranks to become the United States Air Force, boasting tens of thousands of African Americans serving in many specialty areas. This dramatic change was inspired in part by the actions of the people who trained at Tuskegee Army Airfield or who served in the units of the Tuskegee experiment, collectively known as the Tuskegee Airmen. Their demonstrated skill in combat operations, their direct action protests against segregation outside of combat, and their remarkable commitment to preservation of military efficiency and discipline despite prejudices in semi-integrated settings combined to undermine the foundational justifications of military segregation, paving the way for Executive Order 9981 and integration of the Air Force

"Integration in the Armed Services", January 1, 1955

"Integration in the Armed Services" progress report from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense on the integration of Negroes in the Armed Forces

The Fight for Equality: African American Seabees During World War II

This thesis outlines the Navy’s movement towards black inclusion from the beginning of World War I to the end of World War II through the lens of African American Seabees as well as the two integrated Seabee Battalions, 34th and 80th. While examining African American Seabees during World War II, one can see the injustices they were facing in the Navy. Seabees are one of the forgotten branches during World War II, but while examining the history of African Americans serving in the U.S. Navy and the Seabees, we start to understand how they were able to integrate blacks and how blacks were able to fight for their equality in the Seabees. This thesis argues that African American Seabees, frustrated with their treatment in the Navy, were the driving force behind the Navy changing its policies on the treatment of black seamen. Through the examination of materials including newspaper articles, military documents, cruise logs, letters, speeches from President Roosevelt and Secretary of the Navy Knox, dissertations, and books about the Navy’s integration policies and their overall operation during World War I and World War II this thesis pieced together African American Seabees’ fight for equal opportunity

The Afro-American and the Second World War

The second World War had a great impact on the black American population. The issues of military participation and the aims expressed in Allied propaganda were seized upon by Afro-Americans in order to press their claims for equality at home. This war on two fronts, as it was called, found expression in black newspapers, in literature, and in song and the common theme was that service in the armed forces or in defence industries would, or at least should, be rewarded with equal citizenship rights. The militant campaigns launched by blacks at this time, particularly the March on Washington Movement, resulted in 'guided' changes : changes resulting from government actions to reduce discrimination in industry and the armed forces. More important, however, were the 'unguided, changes which came about as a result of the war itself. Manpower shortages in industry after 1942 led to increased employment of blacks and in a greater variety of jobs than previously experienced. Similar shortages in the Army in 1944 led to a successful experiment in integration which undermined the basis of segregation in the forces. Such changes did not go unresisted and the massive migration of Afro-Americans to centres of war production, and their own belligerence, led to conflict with whites over employment and housing. In 1943 a number of cities were disrupted by race riots, the largest of which took place in Detroit. More sympathetic whites urged their countrymen to practice what they preached abroad in their own country, a message which was taken up by President Truman when he acted in the field of civil rights after the war. The riots and race conflict of the 1940s demonstrated the importance race relations had achieved during, and because of the war: they were also a foretaste of the things to come when black hopes and expectations were crushed in the 1950s

Soldiers and Civil Rights: The Impact of World War II on Jacksonville\u27s African American Community, 1954-1960

This research explores the role of returning African American veterans in the Civil Rights Movement in Jacksonville from 1945-1960. Black World War II veterans not only faced the typical challenges of returning to civilian life, but took up the fight for equality as well. While this work acknowledges existing arguments about black veterans in the Civil Rights Movement, it emphasizes and analyzes the importance of their military benefits and experience. The mechanizing revolution that occurred in the United States military in this era had a lasting impact on the soldiers fighting as well as communities back home, Jacksonville included. This changing military dynamic necessitated an increase in support positions, meaning African American soldiers received training in various fields like combat, supply, and intelligence. This training translated into useful skills in the postwar period. The experiences of black soldiers while overseas also played a pivotal role, especially their interaction with foreign cultures. Often foreigners referred to black soldiers as American leaving off any racial distinction. Additionally, black veterans were able to attend college in unprecedented numbers because of their GI Bill benefits. Ernest Jackson earned undergraduate and legal degrees, and led the attack on segregation in Jacksonville. Elcee Lucas also went to school after exiting the service but used his military skills to orchestrate voter registration drives, and organize political campaigns. With their new skills and education, these men were not only able to organize and lead others but were equipped with the tools necessary to challenge the institutions that subverted their equality, greatly influencing the path of the Civil Rights Movement. Through their efforts, black veterans helped expose inadequacies with the existing structures and laws, thus adding to the justification for the later civil rights tactics that intentionally challenged and broke Jim Crow laws

Project 100,000: The Great Society\u27s Answer to Military Manpower Needs in Vietnam

A short history of Project 100,000, which lowered the physical and mental requirements for admission into the Armed Services during the Vietnam War

Learning the Fighting Game: Black Americans and the First World War

The experience of African American veterans of the First World War is most often cast through the bloody lens of the Red Summer of 1919, when racial violence and lynchings reached record highs across the nation as black veterans returned from the global conflict to find Jim Crow justice firmly entrenched in a white supremacist nation. This narrative casts black veterans in a deeply ironic light, a lost generation even more cruelly mistreated than the larger mythological Lost Generation of the Great War. This narrative, however, badly abuses hindsight and clouds larger issues of black activism and organization during and immediately after the war. This study explorers early NAACP activism, the Garveyite movement, and the early foundations of the Civil Rights Movement

Learning the Fighting Game: Black Americans and the First World War

The experience of African American veterans of the First World War is most often cast through the bloody lens of the Red Summer of 1919, when racial violence and lynchings reached record highs across the nation as black veterans returned from the global conflict to find Jim Crow justice firmly entrenched in a white supremacist nation. This narrative casts black veterans in a deeply ironic light, a lost generation even more cruelly mistreated than the larger mythological Lost Generation of the Great War. This narrative, however, badly abuses hindsight and clouds larger issues of black activism and organization during and immediately after the war. This study explorers early NAACP activism, the Garveyite movement, and the early foundations of the Civil Rights Movement