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World War II
5 articles on World War II
World War II
Source: Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century
Word Count: 4680 Includes: Wartime Race Policy. | Wartime Experiences. | Historical Perspectives. | BibliographyThe conflagration called World War II touched everyone in the world and forever changed international and domestic relations. Americans who experienced the war, either stateside or in the international arena, were profoundly affected by their experiences. America and its citizens came of age in those life-altering years of the war. Young black men and women who were hardened by the Depression years were tested further in the battlefields of the segregated military environment. After their struggles and triumphs in the war years, these Americans returned to change the social fabric of the regions they inhabited.The greatest black generation included more than one million black privates and citizen soldiers who served in the military in all corners of the world during the war years of 19411945 ...
Read full articleWorld War II and African American Women
Source: Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century
When World War II began in Europe in 1939, the United States was ambivalent about its role in the conflict. Isolationists argued for noninvolvement in “European” affairs. But the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941ended the debate, and the United States became a participant in the most destructive war in human history. The war, however, resulted in opportunities for women in the United States, including African American women, that might have been a long time coming had there been no war. The conscription of a large segment of the male population to fight opened up more and varied employment possibilities for women, and women's presence in the workforce increased dramatically. Prior to the war both racism and sexism limited opportunities for black women in the workplace, but the war energized the efforts of black activists to expand employment for black women specifically in war-related industries. ...
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Source: Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Second Edition
Word Count: 2500 Includes: American Mobilization | Blacks on the Home Front | Serving in a Segregated Military | Blacks in the U.S. Army | Challenges to Jim Crow | ConclusionMost destructive military conflict in Europe, but one that gave America renewed prosperity and established its postwar dominance in world affairs; for African Americans the war provided new economic opportunities, accelerated the black migration from the South to Northern urban areas, and prepared the way for the Civil Rights Movement. World War II had a transforming effect on African Americans. Despite white reluctance and hostility, the black community took pride in its contributions to the war effort at home and overseas. African Americans served in every branch of the military and in every theater of conflict. The war provided new opportunities on the home front and vastly increased the movement of blacks out of the South. It also encouraged civil rights activism, as African Americans broadened their efforts to secure full citizenship rights. ...
Read full articleWorld War II
Source: Black Women in America, Second Edition
Word Count: 2056 Includes: Contributions to the War Effort | Civil Rights Activism during World War II | BibliographyFor African American women, World War II was a time of fear and courage, struggle and success, opportunity and discrimination. As did all American women, they worried about sons and husbands serving in the armed forces, and they struggled to adapt to the myriad changes transforming everyday life in wartime America. They joined African American men in fighting the “Double V” campaign for victory against tyranny abroad and oppression at home. Once the war ended, they found that the changes experienced during the war served as a prelude to the future. The activism and community-building activities of African American women enabled many wartime migrants to survive in unfamiliar and often hostile environments, and helped to strengthen all the institutions crucial to further racial progress. ...
Read full articleMedals of Honor Presented to Black Veterans of World War II (1997)
Word Count: 2071A segregated military, along with a racially divided society and a popular media that paid scant attention to the achievements of African Americans (when it bothered to notice them at all) had served to deny most African American soldiers the honor they earned for their service in WWI and WWII. Despite the fact that thousands of African Americans had served with distinction and valor in WWII, not a single black serviceman had earned one of the more than 450 Medals of Honor awarded for “individual gallantry”—none had even been nominated for the medal. Despite attempts by concerned observers, the families of those who had served, and historians interested in overturning a historical injustice, this inequity persisted until 1997 and the presidential administration of Bill Clinton. ...
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