Black History Month: The Good Stuff

[Max Rockatansky]

Racists tend to focus on the negative, but most people, meaning normal people, think racial discrimination is wrong and will stand against it. There are a lot of negative stories about racism in America, but there are many positive ones too. We just don't see much of them.

I'm currently sitting in a USO using their computer and happened to see this on the USO homepage:

http://www.uso.org/blackhistory/
Published on Feb 26, 2015
The USO has a special place in Enoch Woodhouse’s heart. It’s not because of anything material the organization gave him, but for the immaterial reception, compassion and understanding its volunteers and staff provided during a challenging time. The then-17-year-old Tuskegee Airman engaged with USO for the first time in 1944. Now an 88-year-old retired lieutenant colonel, Woodhouse has plenty to say about his 71-year history with the organization. As Black History Month comes to a close, take a trip back with us to hear the former Army Air Corps soldier’s stories about the USO in the 1940s, when America was fighting the German Reich abroad and struggling with racism and segregation at home. “Every young man, black or white or whatever — you volunteered to serve America,” said Woodhouse, who signed up for the Army in 1944, just two days after graduating high school. “We were concerned not only with victory against fascism abroad, but we wanted to eliminate — we wanted to defeat — racism at home in America.” Woodhouse says the USO centers of World War II were some of the few places with no segregation. “It was America: black [and] white mixed,” he said. “If you were in uniform … you were welcomed.”
--Video by Joseph Andrew Lee

Watch Woodhouse’s story about his USO experiences, and hear what happened the day a cultural tour was derailed by racist actions of an outside group, and how one USO staff member’s response changed his life forever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XHtGIWed1k

[Peter1469]

The first step towards real desegregation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desegregation#World_Wars_I_and_II) of the US Armed Forces was the Battle of the Bulge. With limited options to send relief to the Bastards of Bastogne, GEN Eisenhower made the call to allow black soldiers to join combat units despite very vocal resistance from many other senior officers.

And these black soldiers were not trained for combat beyond what they got in basic training. They had service support jobs.

[Max Rockatansky]

The first step towards real desegregation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desegregation#World_Wars_I_and_II) of the US Armed Forces was the Battle of the Bulge. With limited options to send relief to the Bastards of Bastogne, GEN Eisenhower made the call to allow black soldiers to join combat units despite very vocal resistance from many other senior officers.

And these black soldiers were not trained for combat beyond what they got in basic training. They had service support jobs.

I grew up in the desegregated Army in the late 1950s and 1960s as a military dependent. When I watched the Civil Rights marches and, later, riots on television in the mid to late 1960s, I didn't understand the problem. Army posts and DOD schools were desegregated. It was a way of life.

[Mister D]

Sort of on topic...:undecided: I have an early war white officer's kepi from a French colonial regiment. It has a crescent on it and I think it's Moroccan or perhaps Algerian but I guess it's also possible it was a black African regiment from Chad or Senegal.