Fighting in the Jim Crow Army: Black Men and Women Remember World War II

by Maggi M. Morehouse, Maurice Isserman (Foreword by)

Overview

Fighting in the Jim Crow Army is filled with first-hand accounts of everyday life in 1940s America. The soldiers of the 92nd and 93rd Infantry Divisions speak of segregation in the military and racial attitudes in army facilities stateside and abroad. The individual battles of black soldiers reveal a compelling tale of discrimination, triumph, resistance, and camaraderie. What emerges from the multitude of voices is a complex and powerful story of individuals who served their country and subsequently made demands to be recognized as full-fledged citizens.

Morehouse, whose father served in the 93rd Infantry Division, has built a rich historical account around personal interviews and correspondence with soldiers, National Archive documents, and military archive materials. Augmented with historical and recent photographs, Fighting in the Jim Crow Army combines individual recollections with official histories to form a vivid picture of life in the segregated Army.

In the historiography of World War II very little has emerged from the perspective of the black foot soldier. Morehouse allows the participants to tell the tale of the watershed event of their participation in World War II as well as the ongoing black freedom struggle.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742548053
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	12/28/2006
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.69(w) x 8.97(h) x 0.65(d)

About the Author

Maggi M. Morehouse is assistant professor of history and director of the honors program at the University of South Carolina, Aiken. She received her doctorate in African American Studies in 2001 from the University of California, Berkeley.

Table of Contents

Preface Chapter 1: We’re in the Army Now Chapter 2: Life on the Military Reservation Chapter 3: Stateside Chapter 4: The “Good Fight” Chapter 5: Coming Home Chapter 6: Afterword Methods and Sources

What People are Saying About This

Dorothy Sterling

Just as we had begun to think that the major stories of African American history had been told, along comes Maggi M. Morehouse with a moving account of black soldiers during World War II. Her report is the all too familiar one of segregation during training at home and discrimination on the battlefields in Europe and the Pacific. Yet the tale comes close to having a happy ending when veterans who had had an opportunity to see the world outside of their segregated communities were then enabled to get an education under the GI Bill of Rights. The result was a generation of young people, many of whom were able to move into the middle class and to join in the struggle for equal rights during the l950s–60s. Told largely in the words of the soldiers themselves who were interviewed extensively by Ms. Morehouse, Fighting In the Jim Crow Army is an engrossing account, skillfully reported.

Maurice Isserman

Illustrates the crucial link between the Second World War and what has sometimes been referred to as the Second Civil War, the black freedom struggle of the 1960s. For what we learn in these pages is that a generation of black men, hundreds of thousands of them, began the most important struggle of our time for equal protection before the laws and for simple human dignity.

Editorial Reviews

Maggi Morehouse's work adds a vibrant chapter to the annals of the war—a chapter the history books have long neglected.

Tampa Tribune and Times

Illustrates the crucial link between the Second World War and what has sometimes been referred to as the Second Civil War, the black freedom struggle of the 1960s. For what we learn in these pages is that a generation of black men, hundreds of thousands of them, began the most important struggle of our time for equal protection before the laws and for simple human dignity.

Maurice Isserman

Fighting in the Jim Crow Army helps readers discover, for those who forgot, when the first steps were made along the long road to racial equality. The book is an important source for those teaching African-American history, World War II (particularly if the instructor seeks to offer a component concerning race relations), and ethnic studies.

Teaching History: A Journal of Methods

A fascinating collection of personal accounts reminding us of the unfortunate mistreatment that African Americans once routinely endured.

Post Library

An important corrective to histories that ignore the racism that permeated the armed forces.

The Dallas Morning News

The strength of Jim Crow lies in the skillful sandwiching of research data between first person statements of the principals. Together they brilliantly portray the past workings of a nation then divided and exceptionally underline the fact that abilities and capabilities cannot be measured by skin color.

Journal of Political and Military Sociology

This is an important, largely untold story about the lives of black men and women who fought to make the world free for democracy when they themselves were not free.

Cincinnati Enquirer

Just as we had begun to think that the major stories of African American history had been told, along comes Maggi M. Morehouse with a moving account of black soldiers during World War II. Her report is the all too familiar one of segregation during training at home and discrimination on the battlefields in Europe and the Pacific. Yet the tale comes close to having a happy ending when veterans who had had an opportunity to see the world outside of their segregated communities were then enabled to get an education under the GI Bill of Rights. The result was a generation of young people, many of whom were able to move into the middle class and to join in the struggle for equal rights during the l950s–60s. Told largely in the words of the soldiers themselves who were interviewed extensively by Ms. Morehouse, Fighting In the Jim Crow Army is an engrossing account, skillfully reported.

Dorothy Sterling

One result of racism is that much historical truth is seldom told. Using 50 in-depth interviews with black veterans, Morehouse tells much truth about the 650,000 black men who served in segregated army units during WW II. All collections.

Choice Reviews

Fighting in the Jim Crow Army helps readers discover, for those who forgot, when the first steps were made along the long road to racial equality. The book is an important source for those teaching African-American history, World War II (particularly if the instructor seeks to offer a component concerning race relations), and ethnic studies.-- "Teaching History: A Journal of Methods"

A fascinating collection of personal accounts reminding us of the unfortunate mistreatment that African Americans once routinely endured.-- "Post Library"

An anecdotal history of the African-American members of the 'Greatest Generation.' . . . Morehouse enlivens her text with many narratives told by the veterans themselves.
-- "Kirkus Reviews"

An important corrective to histories that ignore the racism that permeated the armed forces.-- "The Dallas Morning News"

Illustrates the crucial link between the Second World War and what has sometimes been referred to as the Second Civil War, the black freedom struggle of the 1960s. For what we learn in these pages is that a generation of black men, hundreds of thousands of them, began the most important struggle of our time for equal protection before the laws and for simple human dignity.--Maurice Isserman, author of America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s (from the foreword)

Just as we had begun to think that the major stories of African American history had been told, along comes Maggi M. Morehouse with a moving account of black soldiers during World War II. Her report is the all too familiar one of segregation during training at home and discrimination on the battlefields in Europe and the Pacific. Yet the tale comes close to having a happy ending when veterans who had had an opportunity to see the world outside of their segregated communities were then enabled to get an education under the GI Bill of Rights. The result was a generation of young people, many of whom were able to move into the middle class and to join in the struggle for equal rights during the l950s-60s. Told largely in the words of the soldiers themselves who were interviewed extensively by Ms. Morehouse, Fighting In the Jim Crow Army is an engrossing account, skillfully reported.
--Dorothy Sterling, author of We Are Your Sisters and The Making of an Afro-American

Maggi Morehouse's work adds a vibrant chapter to the annals of the war--a chapter the history books have long neglected.-- "Tampa Tribune and Times"

Morehouse organizes threads from many individual stories into coherent descriptions of contemporary culture and of conditions in the segregated black divisions, conveying all of the soldiers' frustration, anger, and humiliation from discrimination and the joy of their victories. . . . A striking and memorable contribution to cultural history.-- "Publishers Weekly"

One result of racism is that much historical truth is seldom told. Using 50 in-depth interviews with black veterans, Morehouse tells much truth about the 650,000 black men who served in segregated army units during WW II. All collections.-- "Choice Reviews"

The strength of Jim Crow lies in the skillful sandwiching of research data between first person statements of the principals. Together they brilliantly portray the past workings of a nation then divided and exceptionally underline the fact that abilities and capabilities cannot be measured by skin color.-- "Journal of Political and Military Sociology"

This is an important, largely untold story about the lives of black men and women who fought to make the world free for democracy when they themselves were not free.-- "Cincinnati Enquirer"

From the Publisher

One result of racism is that much historical truth is seldom told. Using 50 in-depth interviews with black veterans, Morehouse tells much truth about the 650,000 black men who served in segregated army units during WW II. All collections.

Choice

One result of racism is that much historical truth is seldom told. Using 50 in-depth interviews with black veterans, Morehouse tells much truth about the 650,000 black men who served in segregated army units during WW II. All collections.

CHOICE

Fighting in the Jim Crow Army helps readers discover, for those who forgot, when the first steps were made along the long road to racial equality. The book is an important source for those teaching African-American history, World War II (particularly if the instructor seeks to offer a component concerning race relations), and ethnic studies.

Teaching History: A Journal of Methods

Fighting in the Jim Crow Army helps readers discover, for those who forgot, when the first steps were made along the long road to racial equality. The book is an important source for those teaching African-American history, World War II (particularly if the instructor seeks to offer a component concerning race relations), and ethnic studies.

Teaching History

An important corrective to histories that ignore the racism that permeated the armed forces.

Dallas Morning News

In 1942, the U.S. Army activated two infantry divisions--the 93rd ("Blue Helmets") and 92nd ("Buffalo Soldiers")--of African-American enlisted men and junior officers. These segregated units were commanded by white senior officers--yet were considered all black. Beginning in 1944, the 93rd was deployed to action in the South Pacific and the 92nd to Italy. Based on a thorough sifting of the available records and on oral histories obtained by the author, this volume describes the genesis, training, service and legacies of these units. Morehouse organizes threads from many individual stories into coherent descriptions of contemporary culture and of conditions in the segregated black divisions, conveying all of the soldiers' frustration, anger and humiliation from discrimination, and the joy of their victories. A doctoral candidate in African-American studies at the University of California, Morehouse is connected to her topic as well through her father's service as a white officer in the 93rd. Her research is a striking and memorable contribution to cultural history, but won't have much direct appeal beyond WWII buffs and a small niche of the African-American studies market. (Feb.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Morehouse is a Fulbright fellow who became interested in the African American soldiers of World War II when she found mementos that belonged to her late father, a career Army officer and one of the few white officers to serve with black troops. She tells the combat soldiers' stories through their own words and experiences, which demonstrate the irony and ambiguities of fighting a war for democracy within a segregated army. They also have been largely neglected by historians. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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