Lost Black History
By Don Valentine
Black soldiers have served the US military since the Revolutionary War. Note: We have participated in every war the US has fought. The motivation to fight was for a new country that anchored itself on the motto “Freedom For All!” After 246 years our Union is still in pursuit of that mantra. The website armymilitary.com reported that “Many African Americans were inspired by the Black soldiers from Haiti and Senegal fighting for France and earning respect, and hoped that they would receive the same recognition from their fellow Americans.” This sentiment took over a 100 years to gain any traction.
President Truman revisited his racial stereotype about Blacks. The disgusting beatings and murders of recently returned Black World War II veterans in the South captured national attention. President Truman was repulsed. He said, “My stomach turned over when I learned that Negro soldiers, just back from overseas, were being dumped out of army trucks in Mississippi and beaten. Whatever my inclinations as a native of Missouri might have been, as President I know this is bad. I shall fight to end evils like this.”
July 26th 1948 President Truman crossed the racial Rubicon. That year he signed executive order 9981. “It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale.” This was arguably the signature plank of the Truman administration.
The heroic, sedulous voices of the Black community did not get weary on the path to military desegregation. As World War II began, Black men from the NAACP, like Walter F. White, T Arnold Hill from the Urban League, sought to use the new war to advance military integration.
The Pittsburgh Courier, one of the predominant Black newspapers of the period, fortified the way. Following Pearl Harbor, the paper published a letter by James G. Thompson, asking if he should sacrifice his life to live “Half American?” Then the paper started the “Double V” campaign.” Victory abroad and Victory at home. The campaign efforts went across the country. Many scholars credit the “Double V” campaign to be the precursor of our Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
If we don’t know our history, we are doomed to learn “His-story!
By Don Valentine
Black soldiers have served the US military since the Revolutionary War. Note: We have participated in every war the US has fought. The motivation to fight was for a new country that anchored itself on the motto “Freedom For All!” After 246 years our Union is still in pursuit of that mantra. The website armymilitary.com reported that “Many African Americans were inspired by the Black soldiers from Haiti and Senegal fighting for France and earning respect, and hoped that they would receive the same recognition from their fellow Americans.” This sentiment took over a 100 years to gain any traction.
President Truman revisited his racial stereotype about Blacks. The disgusting beatings and murders of recently returned Black World War II veterans in the South captured national attention. President Truman was repulsed. He said, “My stomach turned over when I learned that Negro soldiers, just back from overseas, were being dumped out of army trucks in Mississippi and beaten. Whatever my inclinations as a native of Missouri might have been, as President I know this is bad. I shall fight to end evils like this.”
July 26th 1948 President Truman crossed the racial Rubicon. That year he signed executive order 9981. “It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale.” This was arguably the signature plank of the Truman administration.
The heroic, sedulous voices of the Black community did not get weary on the path to military desegregation. As World War II began, Black men from the NAACP, like Walter F. White, T Arnold Hill from the Urban League, sought to use the new war to advance military integration.
The Pittsburgh Courier, one of the predominant Black newspapers of the period, fortified the way. Following Pearl Harbor, the paper published a letter by James G. Thompson, asking if he should sacrifice his life to live “Half American?” Then the paper started the “Double V” campaign.” Victory abroad and Victory at home. The campaign efforts went across the country. Many scholars credit the “Double V” campaign to be the precursor of our Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
If we don’t know our history, we are doomed to learn “His-story!
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