African-American Service – Old Magazine Articles

Jim Crow and the Draft (PM Tabloid, 1940)

Wishing to avoid some of the taint of racism that characterized the American military during the First World war, Republican Senator William Barbour (1888 – 1943) announced that he intended to introduce an amendment to the 1940 conscription legislation that would open all branches of the U.S. Military to everyone regardless of skin color. The article goes on to list all the various branches that practiced racial discrimination.

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‘White Man’s War” (PM Tabloid, 1942)

During the winter of 1942, Private Harry Carpenter, U.S Army, made a big honking mistake when he decided to declare that the current war was a white man’s war. Arrested by the MPs and carted-off to stand before Magistrate Thomas O’Hara, Carpenter found that he had reaped the whirlwind: he was charged with treason against the United States.

‘White Man’s War” (PM Tabloid, 1942) Read More »

Asking Important Questions (The Pittsburgh Courier, 1942)

Should I sacrifice my life to live half American?’ Will things be better for the next generation [of colored Americans] in the peace to follow? ‘Would it be demanding too much to demand full citizenship rights in ex- change for the sacrificing of my life?

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Dorie Miller at Pearl Harbor (Bluebook Magazine, 1962)

Mess Attendant 2nd Class Dorie Miller had never handled a machine gun, yet he shot down four Japanese planes in twenty minutes, rescued the captain of the USS West Virginia and saved a dozen men from drowning.

Read about an African-American from the First World War…

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A Segregated WAAC (Click Magazine, 1942)

A single page from the early war period tells the tale of Natalie Donaldson

Click here to read about the African-American efforts during the First World War.

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Jim Crow at Newsweek (Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

What a thoroughly outrageous article this is! In my experience reading news pieces from both world wars I have never once come across one in which the journalist pinpoints a particular fighting unit and labels it as substandard – but that is exactly what happens in this article about the all-black 92nd Division. Previously, I never thought such a thing would ever happen with a censored press that sought to preserve the morale of both soldiers and home front – but I was wrong.

Jim Crow at Newsweek (Newsweek Magazine, 1945) Read More »

The First Black Fighter Pilots (The American Magazine, 1942)

This article partially explains the excitement of being a Tuskegee Airman and flying the Army’s most advanced fighters and partially explains what it was like to be a black man in a segregated America:

I’m flying for every one of the 12,000,000 Negroes in the United States. I want to prove that we can take a tough job and handle it just as well as a white man.

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The African-Americans Fighting in France and Italy (Yank Magazine, 1945)

Here are two Yank Magazine articles from the same issue that report on the all-black combat units that fought the Germans on two fronts in Europe: one organization fought with the Seventh Army in France and Germany, the other fought with the Fifth Army through Italy:

Hitler would have a hemorrhage if he could see the white boys of the 411th Infantry bull-sessioning, going out on mixed patrols, sleeping in the same bombed buildings, sweating out the same chow lines with the Negro GIs.

Click here to read about the African-American efforts during the First World War.

The African-Americans Fighting in France and Italy (Yank Magazine, 1945) Read More »

The African-Americans Fighting in France and Italy (Yank Magazine, 1945)

Click here to read about the African-American efforts during the First World War.

The African-Americans Fighting in France and Italy (Yank Magazine, 1945) Read More »

Discrimination Abroad (Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

Much has been written and much more whispered about relations between American Negro soldiers and white girls in Britain and elsewhere. To get at the facts, Newsweek assigned William Wilson of its London bureau to a candid review of the subject. His findings , largely from the standpoint of the Negro soldiers themselves [are as follow].

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