World War II

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maggi M. Morehouse
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Military Service ◽  
African American Men ◽  
African Descent ◽  
The United States ◽  
World War ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Black Soldiers

The war years were transformative for people of African descent, particularly in the United States. About 10 percent of the population, or 13 million people out of 130 million Americans, were of African descent in the war years. More African Americans than in previous times were engaged in military operations and defense industry work, and larger numbers were represented in the federal government’s operations. African Americans migrated in larger numbers to different regions for work or military service, they experienced a transformation into a more urban community, and many became foot-soldiers agitating for equality and civil rights. African Americans who experienced the war years either stateside or on the international stage were profoundly affected by their experiences, including the horrors of combat warfare and the opportunities of a booming wartime economy. Having survived the bleakness of the 1930s-era economic depression, World War II America offered more opportunities for employment, better living conditions and life choices, and advancement through military participation. However, all of these opportunities were hampered by the anti-black racism that greatly reduced equality within the military, the government, and defense industries. Two million African American men and women found new employment in war industry jobs. The army’s governing policy called “segregation without discrimination” meant mostly white officers commanding black troops, which limited the opportunities of black soldiers. Still, 2.5 million African American men and women volunteered for military service, with about 1.5 million ultimately selected to serve. Over six thousand African American women formed into segregated units of the Women’s Auxiliary Corps. Two army infantry divisions of black soldiers fought in the war: the 92nd Buffalo Soldier Division in Italy, and the 93rd Blue Helmets Division in the Pacific Islands. While most of the “Greatest (Black) Generation” served in service and support units, some fifty thousand black soldiers served in combat units. Other specialized units included the Tuskegee Airmen, the “Triple Nickle” Parachute Unit, the 761st “Black Panther” Tank Battalion, and the “Red Ball Express” Trucking companies. Black soldiers helped to liberate Nazi concentration camps, they came ashore in the D-Day operations, and they volunteered in the brutal Battle of the Bulge campaign, among many other distinctive operations. Black medical professionals ran international healthcare operations. Specialized service personnel performed engineering feats through difficult terrain. America’s defense industries employed more black workers from ship building to parachute construction, from Victory gardens to government appointments, and in the production of guns and butter. In spite of the prejudicial treatment that constrained their participation, many African Americans resisted segregation and discrimination by engaging in the “Double V” campaign: Victory against America’s enemies abroad, and Victory against racism at home. Because the war years brought about more transformations than before, this is a significant time in African American history.

Epilogue

2020 ◽  
pp. 213-220
Author(s):  
Khary Oronde Polk
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Black Men ◽  
Military Service ◽  
World War ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Black Soldiers ◽  
Successive Generations ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Military

The epilogue considers the military writings of William Gardner Smith, and the literary reception of his 1948 novel, Last of the Conquerors. Smith worked as a reporter for the Pittsburgh Courier before he received his draft notice to serve as an occupation soldier in Berlin. While deployed, he continued to write for the Courier as a special correspondent, detailing the injustices faced by Black soldiers abroad under his pen name, Bill Smith. His witness as subject and scribe of the overseas military apparatus offered a counter history to America’s official military record of occupation, and laid the foundation for what would become the familiar narrative told about black soldiering in the postwar era: that military service in the occupied nation was like a “breath of freedom” for African American troops. These contagious narratives of black military freedom and control influenced successive generations of African Americans to join the service, and produced a possibility that had not been possible until the end of World War II: that black men and women might look toward the military service as a career.

Abstract P115: The Epidemiological Profile Of CKD Among African American Men And Women: Findings From The Jackson Heart Study

Hypertension ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kia Monique Jones ◽  
Kia Monique Jones
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African American ◽  
Chronic Disease ◽  
African Americans ◽  
African American Men ◽  
The United States ◽  
Minority Populations ◽  
Rapid Progression ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
History Of

The prevalence of CKD is paramount. CKD affects almost 1 in 7 adults in the United States and is associated with increased rates of cardiovascular disease. While African Americans make up about 13 percent of the population, they account for 35 percent of the people with kidney failure in the United States. The prevalence of early CKD is equivalent across racial and ethnic groups in the United States, but CKD progresses to end-stage renal disease far more rapidly in minority populations, with rates nearly four times higher in African Americans than in whites. The purpose of this study is to address the emergence of chronic disease complications in the African American community that focuses on associations with prevalent CKD outcomes in the JHS. Epidemiological study design used to access the preliminary data to derive conclusions about CKD. CKD was assessed by the JHS participants, who self-reported their CKD status/history. CKD was measured using the Renal form and History of CKD form that was given as a questionnaire within the JHS during Examination 1 Period. CKD was measured by Jackson Heart Study’s estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 mL/min/1.73 m2 to determine CKD status. African Americans have a disproportionate burden of CKD, which tends to have an earlier onset and a more rapid progression in this population. From a population health standpoint, CKD factors such as smoking, diabetes, history of hypertension, dietary patterns, physical activity, blood apolipoproteins and psychosocial factors account for more than 90% of the population-attributable risk. African American men and women with CKD is viewed among the highest-risk groups for cardiovascular events and disease. Race and ethnicity are associated with sociocultural and biologic variations that influence the risk and progression of CKD. Understanding these factors for minority populations can help in targeting interventions to decrease the disproportionately high rates of CKD progression and complications. As prevalence of chronic disease increased, public health’s focus on health- related behaviors and risk factors shifted the discipline’s attention to considering the neighborhood's influence on social determinants of health.

“Dixie Carmen”: War, Race, and Identity in Oscar Hammerstein's Carmen Jones (1943)

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNEGRET FAUSER
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Carolina ◽  
African American ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
African Americans ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pearl Harbor ◽  
World War ◽  
Porgy And Bess ◽  
Night Club

AbstractIn December 1943, an all–African American cast starred in the Broadway premiere of Carmen Jones, Oscar Hammerstein II's adaptation of Georges Bizet's Carmen. When Hammerstein began work on Carmen Jones a month after Pearl Harbor, in January 1942, Porgy and Bess was just being revived. Hammerstein's 1942 version of Carmen, set in a Southern town and among African Americans, shows the influence of the revised version of Porgy and Bess, with Catfish Row echoed in a cigarette factory in South Carolina and the Hoity Toity night club. It took Hammerstein more than eighteen months to find a producer, and when the show opened by the end of 1943, the setting in a parachute factory and urban Chicago reflected new priorities brought on by wartime changes. Commercially one of the most successful musical plays on Broadway during its run of 503 performances, Carmen Jones offers a window on the changing issues of culture, class, and race in the United States during World War II. New archival evidence reveals that these topics were part of the work's genesis and production as much as of its reception. This article contextualizes Carmen Jones by focusing on the complex issues of war, race, and identity in the United States in 1942 and 1943.

Black Soldiers in World War II America

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert F. Jefferson
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Military Training ◽  
World War ◽  
Military Establishment ◽  
Black Soldiers ◽  
American Military ◽  
The Military ◽  
American Racism

The history of the African American military experience in World War II tends to revolve around two central questions: How did World War II and American racism shape the black experience in the American military? And how did black GIs reshape the parameters of their wartime experiences? From the mid-1920s through the Great Depression years of the 1930s, military planners evaluated the performance of black soldiers in World War I while trying to ascertain their presence in future wars. However, quite often their discussions about African American servicemen in the military establishment were deeply moored in the traditions, customs, and practices of American racism, racist stereotypes, and innuendo. Simultaneously, African American leaders and their allies waged a relentless battle to secure the future presence of the uniformed men and women who would serve in the nation’s military. Through their exercise of voting rights, threats of protest demonstration, litigation, and White House lobbying from 1939 through 1942, civil rights advocates and their affiliates managed to obtain some minor concessions from the military establishment. But the military’s stubborn adherence to a policy barring black and white soldiers from serving in the same units continued through the rest of the war. Between 1943 and 1945, black GIs faced white officer hostility, civilian antagonism, and military police brutality while undergoing military training throughout the country. Similarly, African American servicewomen faced systemic racism and sexism in the military during the period. Throughout various stages of the American war effort, black civil rights groups, the press, and their allies mounted the opening salvoes in the battle to protect and defend the wellbeing of black soldiers in uniform. While serving on the battlefields of World War II, fighting African American GIs became foot soldiers in the wider struggles against tyranny abroad. After returning home in 1945, black World War II-era activists such as Daisy Lampkin and Ruby Hurley, and ex-servicemen and women, laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement.

Age Differences in Knowledge about HIV Transmission among African-American Men and Women

2007 ◽  
Vol 101 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1133-1140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Kathleen Burlew
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
African American Women ◽  
Hiv Transmission ◽  
African American Men ◽  
Hiv And Aids ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Younger Women ◽  
Older African Americans ◽  
The Difference

To test whether knowledge about HIV transmission may be one contributing factor to the disproportionately high rates of HIV and AIDS cases among older African Americans, this study examined data from 448 African-American men and women, who completed the AIDS Knowledge and Awareness Scale. Overall the findings supported the hypothesis that older African Americans were not as knowledgeable as their younger counterparts. However, the analyses also indicated older (age 61+) African-American women were significantly less knowledgeable about HIV transmission than the younger women. However, the difference between older and younger men was not significant. One implication is that older African Americans, especially women, should be targets of educational efforts.

African American Soldiers in World War I

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda M. Nagel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African American ◽  
Military Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
War Effort ◽  
African American Soldiers ◽  
First World

In the midst of the long black freedom struggle, African American military participation in the First World War remains central to civil rights activism and challenges to systems of oppression in the United States. As part of a long and storied tradition of military service for a nation that marginalized and attempted to subjugate a significant portion of US citizens, African American soldiers faced challenges, racism, and segregation during the First World War simultaneously on the home front and the battlefields of France. The generations born since the end of the Civil War continually became more and more militant when resisting Jim Crow and insisting on full, not partial, citizenship in the United States, evidenced by the events in Houston in 1917. Support of the war effort within black communities in the United States was not universal, however, and some opposed participation in a war effort to “make the world safe for democracy” when that same democracy was denied to people of color. Activism by organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) challenged the War Department’s official and unofficial policy, creating avenues for a larger number of black officers in the US Army through the officers’ training camp created in Des Moines, Iowa. For African American soldiers sent to France with the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), the potential for combat experience led to both failures and successes, leading to race pride as in the case of the 93rd Division’s successes, and skewed evidence for the War Department to reject increasing the number of black officers and enlisted in the case of the 92nd Division. All-black Regular Army regiments, meanwhile, either remained in the United States or were sent to the Philippines rather than the battlefields of Europe. However, soldiers’ return home was mixed, as they were both celebrated and rejected for their service, reflected in both parades welcoming them home and racial violence in the form of lynchings between December 1918 and January 1920. As a result, the interwar years and the start of World War II roughly two decades later renewed the desire to utilize military service as a way to influence US legal, social, cultural, and economic structures that limited African American citizenship.

Italian-American Literature

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
American Literature ◽  
Military Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
World War ◽  
Ample Evidence ◽  
Italian Americans ◽  
Italian American ◽  
American Schools ◽  
Immigrant Experience

The earliest Italian American writers were immigrants who learned English and responded to their experience in America through poetry and prose, more often than not found in the early Italian language newspapers. Few had mastered the English language, and so their contributions to literature were not considered to be American. In fact, early-20th-century immigrants from Italy to the United States were hesitant to even to refer to themselves as Americans. The literature produced during this period provides great insights into the shaping of American identities and into the obstacles that these immigrants faced in pursuing their versions of the American Dream. The rise of Fascism in Italy of the 1920s–1940s would have a tremendous effect on those identities. One of the earliest Italian Americans to voice his opinion of Italian Fascism in his poetry was Arturo Giovannitti, who, with Joseph Ettor, had organized the famous 1912 Lawrence Mill Strike. National awareness of writers as Italian Americans would not begin until the likes of John Fante and Pietro di Donato published in the late 1930s. Fiction published prior to World War II primarily depicted the vexed immigrant experience of adjustment in America. The post–World War II years brought the arrival of more immigrants as serious producers of American art. Among the early writers were returning soldiers, such as Mario Puzo and Felix Stefanile, often the first of their families to be literate and attend American schools, especially with the help of the GI Bill. While many of the writers were busy capturing the disappearance of the immigrant generation, others were continuing the radical traditions. Government investigations into Communism through the House Committee on Un-American Activities sparked the ire of many Italian American artists. Increased mobility through military service and education in American schools brought Italian American writers into contact with the world outside of Little Italy and opened their imaginations and creativity to modernist experiments. Those who would gain recognition as members of the “Beat movement” responded to an apolitical complacency that seemed to set in directly after the war by fusing art and politics profoundly to affect America’s literary scene. During a time when the very definition of “American” was being challenged and changed, Italian American writers were busy exploring their own American histories. America’s postwar feminist movement had a strong effect on the daughters of the immigrants. Social action, the redefinition of American gender roles, and the shift from urban to suburban ethnicity became subjects of the writing of many young Italian Americans who watched as their families moved from working- to middle-class life. Fiction produced in the 1980s and 1990s recreated the immigrant experience from the perspective of the grandchildren, who quite often reconnected to Italy to create new identities. Contemporary Italian American literature demonstrates a growing literary tradition through a variety of styles and voices. Critical studies, beginning with Rose Basile Green’s The Italian American Novel (1974), reviews, the publication of anthologies, journals, and the creation of new presses are ample evidence that Italian American culture has gained understandings of its past as it develops a sense of a future.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Kori A. Graves
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
African Americans ◽  
The United States ◽  
Adopted Children ◽  
Transnational Adoption ◽  
World War ◽  
Birth Mothers ◽  
Adoptive Family ◽  
Displaced Children

The introduction provides a brief history of the development of US domestic adoption, and African Americans’ roles in US and transnational adoption in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Since the professionalization of adoption in the United States largely evolved around the needs of birth mothers, children, and adoptive parents who were white, African Americans’ efforts to care for orphaned and displaced children through formal and informal adoptions has been underappreciated. The introduction describes the ways African Americans adopted children in the United States and, after World War II, foreign-born children of African American soldiers. This approach provides a foundation for understanding how African Americans’ participation in Korean transnational adoption was similar to their domestic adoption efforts and their efforts to adopt World War II GI children. It also suggests reasons why efforts to increase the professionalization and standardization of Korean transnational adoption reduced African Americans’ participation in this method of adoptive family formation.

The Men and Women of Avon

2021 ◽  
pp. 133-162
Author(s):  
Katina Manko
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Middle Management ◽  
Sales Force ◽  
Career Ladder ◽  
World War ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
New City

During World War II, the size of the Avon representative salesforce shrank as women took jobs in the war industry. The stalwart representatives who remained with the company established the highest sales records in its history. When the war ended, the size of the sales force increased again but its efficiency lagged. Avon established new sales offices in cities and suburbs, carefully drawing territories that excluded African American and minority neighborhoods. The female agents who had traveled to recruit were tapped to manage the new city sales offices, creating a new middle-management rung on the corporate career ladder physically independent from the men at headquarters. They soon occupied a meaningful and influential position in the company, ensuring its success in the postwar era.

Promises of Citizenship

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen M. German
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Central Question ◽  
American Democracy ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
World War ◽  
Military Mobilization ◽  
Shed Light

Considering their historically marginalized place in American democracy, one wonders why African Americans bothered to fight in any American conflict. This conundrum is especially perplexing in World War II, a war to free millions from tyranny. Scholars have neglected to ask the fundamental question; why did the African American community send thousands of men to fight for a democratic way of life in which they could not fully participate? The answers to this question, and there are undoubtedly multiple responses, may shed light on contemporary quandaries–situations that involve military mobilization for the good, not of the whole society, but of narrow constituencies. This is the central question of this book. The chapters explore the cultural context where citizenship for African Americans was negotiated through military service.

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