As one of those soldiers put it in a letter to the N.A.A.C.P., the mighty federal government seemed to cower before local sheriffs and lynch mobs - the petty tyrants of Jim Crow: “It’s odd that the U.S. Racist violence in the South meant that even something as basic as the homeland safety of Black soldiers couldn’t be secured. Redundant buildings continued to be built and maintained troop transportation continued to be a logistical nightmare. Roosevelt issued an executive order to desegregate private defense contractors, he would continue to resist desegregating the military. Delmont details in “Half American,” his new book about African Americans and World War II, even the bluntest appeals to the national interest couldn’t get some white Americans to budge. DelmontĪt the time, it should have been an easy argument to make: World War II was a total war, requiring an enormous mobilization of resources therefore anything impeding the efficient deployment of American forces had to be renounced - including the military’s policy of segregation and, most glaringly, the brutal Jim Crow regime in the South.īut as Matthew F. HALF AMERICAN: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad, by Matthew F.
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