Segregation

National Archives Photo

In the 1940s, America was segregated. Racial discrimination and practical inequality was built into laws in many states, most obviously in the "Jim Crow" laws that allowed local governments and private businesses to separate black and white patrons, or even deny service to black people altogether. Southern states had the most extensive set of discriminatory laws, but segregation practically existed in most other states, too. African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and other racial minorities faced systemic and widespread discrimination that usually kept them out of educational, business, and other career opportunities.

This included the Armed Forces. The Army and Navy recruited African Americans between the wars, but kept their numbers below ten percent of the total force. In 1940, the Army had around 4,000 soldiers and only five officers who were black. The Army Air Corps had no black troops. The Navy had 4,000 black sailors, but most were cooks, or stewards (who served officers at meals, and cleaned.) Throughout the 1930s, black civil rights groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) urged the President, Congress, and the War and Navy Departments to integrate the services so black and white soldiers, sailors and airmen had equal opportunities in all units and branches.

However, the military remained segregated into and throughout the war. During the military buildup before December, 1941, and in response to criticisms from black civil rights organizations, the Army declared both services' basic rationale for resisting the integration of black and white troops. Military leaders insisted they had to respect the cultural - frankly racist - preferences of their more-numerous white soldiers. After both services were compelled to offer more training and specialization opportunities to black troops (including officer training), the generals and admirals clung to the common defense of segregation, claiming that black troops could do basically the same things white soldiers and sailors could, but in separate units. Besides, the Army and Navy insisted, integrating troops now could cause morale problems that would impair military efficiency when it was needed most. Finally, military leaders argued that the armed forces should not attempt social policies different than the civilian world. As one Army spokesman declared, "[t]he Army is not a sociological laboratory,” where desegregation could be tried ahead of the rest of society.

Black civil rights advocates disagreed, and for several reasons viewed desegregating the armed forces as a strategic step in their greater campaign to overturn Jim Crow laws and other forms of discrimination throughout civil society. "As the most obvious practitioner of Jim Crow in the federal government," Historian Morris MacGregor points out, "the services were the logical target for the first battle in a conflict that would last some thirty years." The Army and Navy had special disciplinary rules not found even in other federal bureaus. If the President, the Congress, or the War Department decreed that the Army had to desegregate, it was more likely that military officers would obey, instead of find ways to ignore the order or delay compliance. Plus, more than any other public organization, the Army and Navy had reputations for organizing and executing big jobs requiring lots of people. If the cause of black American freedom could win in the armed forces, especially while the U.S. waged a war professedly for freedom and democracy, it could potentially win anywhere: in education, housing, public services, healthcare, and civil rights.

During the war, however, black army troops were organized into separate units, most of which were non-combat. Most of the officers in these units were white, and while the army commissioned many young black officers during the war, these men were not allowed to command white enlisted men. Women's service corps units were similarly segregated. The Army Nurse Corps limited black participation, so that by 1943, there were only 160 black nurses allowed, and these women could only care for black troops. Many African Americans were ordered to do low-skill manual labor jobs, such as simple construction, cooking, loading and unloading ships, and so on. Some were given jobs that military leaders didn't initially consider that important, but which became to be crucial to the war effort. For example, road-builders and truck drivers were vital as the U.S. military increasingly hauled everything and everybody on wheels. Black women in the 6888th Central Postal Battalion organized the massive mail delivery and circulation process for the Army in Europe, so soldiers got mail to and from their families at home. This was vital for morale.

Perhaps the most famous black combat units were the 99th fighter Squadron, and 332nd Fighter Group. Popularly known as the "Tuskegee Airmen," these Army Air Force units flew combat missions in Europe. Unlike nearly all other black troops in World War II, these were commanded by black officers; in flying units the officers did the flying and fighting. Led by Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr, this unit became one of the Army Air Force's premier fighter groups, with a distinguished combat record earned fighting against the German Air Force (Luftwaffe).

Black fighter pilots of the 99th Fighter Squadron discuss air operations in front of one of their P-40 aircraft, in Italy, 1944. National Archives Photo.

6888th Postal Battalion. National Archives Photo.

A tank and crew from D Company, 761st Tank Battalion in Coburg, Germany, in 1945. By the time this photo was taken, this unit had seen a lot of fighting.

USS Mason and some of her crew on a cold Boston morning.

National Archives Photo.

On the ground the Army had some black combat units. Many were not employed in combat, but were relegated to manual labor or garrisoning captured territory. Those that saw combat often suffered a bad reputation, as white racists looked for any reason to complain about their combat record. Some black units, such as the 25th Regimental Combat Team or the 92nd Infantry Division, suffered often-publicized setbacks. But racist critics failed to compare these to white units that suffered defeats, such as the 106th Infantry Division, that disintegrated amidst the German Ardennes Offensive in late 1944. (Similarly, Marine Corps General Holland Smith harshly criticized, perhaps unfairly, the all-white 27th Infantry Division, New York National Guard, parts of which were overrun by Japanese counterattacks on Saipan.)

Many black combat units on the ground earned accolades similar to the Tuskegee Airmen, and other units of white troops. The 761st Tank Battalion, the "Black Panthers," fought in France and Germany, and earned respect among white units and soldiers with whom they served. Several successful black artillery and tank destroyer battalions also saw action in Europe. In 1945, after U.S. Army had lost many infantrymen fighting the Germans, Army officials quietly offered to recruit black soldiers from non-combat units and form them into infantry platoons, to be attached to white units. Over 4,000 black troops volunteered, and white troops who fought alongside these black men were impressed.

During the war, the Navy allowed sailors to do jobs other than being cooks or stewards, but on shore and not aboard warships. The sole exception was the U.S.S. Mason, a destroyer escort that earned a solid record in the North Atlantic.

Apart from the basic moral inconsistency of fighting a war for freedom while their forces were segregated, the Army and Navy leadership found segregation to be grossly inefficient. Black or white troops with specialist training or skills could not simply be transferred into units that needed them, if it meant crossing the color line. Training facilities needed separate barracks built for black and white troops. To avoid having black and white pilots training at the same facilities, the Army Air Forces delayed the operational readiness of the 477th Bombardment Group. The AAF finally relented, having the men trained at formerly all-white bases, but the 477th never made it to combat. Blood plasma was segregated, which complicated the medical supply process. Given the manpower shortages already evidence in 1943, it was especially burdensome that both services refused to fully draw upon the willingness and capabilities of black men to fight. "How much more might the black Sailor have contributed," Navy historian Regina Akers asks, "if he had the opportunity to fill more ratings and to attain more leadership positions?"

African American WACs learning clerical skills. US Air Force Photo

Segregation also corroded morale. On Army bases commanders often adopted segregation for on-base clubs, movie theaters, post exchanges (shops) and buses. In various orders, the War Department attempted to prohibit this, but local commanders persisted. This was in deference to racist white soldiers, but black men, particularly those from areas of the country without legal segregation, found it appalling. Many white officers assigned to black units resented it, sought transfer, and generally treated their soldiers with disrespect. This led black troops to conclude that the Army "dumped" incompetent white officers into black battalions. In general practice, the Army avoided putting black officers in any position where they could command white soldiers. All these policies worked to convince the black soldier of his second-class status. Disagreements between black troops and white racists, both military and civilian, periodically led to violence. But instead of seeing segregation as an instigator, military authorities stuck to their official policies that integration might bring further disorder.

Nevertheless, the experience of young black men and women in military service gave them a new perspective on their American identity, and the rights that should come with it. One veteran, a crewmember aboard the Mason, pointed out that when the ship docked in Ireland during the war "the people called us Yanks. Not Tan Yanks, like were called in other places. Yanks. Just like they called the white sailors, and it was good."

Japanese-American Troops

Many Americans are aware that, during World War II, 120,000 Japanese-Americans living on the U.S. West Coast were herded into concentration camps. Racism toward Japanese (and Chinese) immigrants was quite common among white people living on the West Coast before the war. In February 1942, President Roosevelt ordered federal officials to collect and "intern" all people of Japanese descent in west-coast states. This included many immigrants, born in the Japanese Empire, but it mostly included their children, called "nisei," who by virtual of birth were U.S. citizens. Federal officers sent these people to "relocation centers," or prison camps, in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. Since the war, this policy has been condemned by politicians from both parties.

Most Americans are perhaps not aware that, despite this treatment, many Japanese-American young men enlisted and fought for the United States. Like their black comrades, most of these men were organized into a separate, segregated units. The most famous Japanese-American unit the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. This infantry unit (with an accompanying artillery battalion) fought in Italy, France, and Germany, in the European Theater of Operations.

Army Center for Military History

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