Taps for a Jim Crow Army

by McGuire, Phillip

• ISBN13: 9780813108223
• ISBN10: 0813108225
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1993-08-10
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kentucky

Summary

" Many black soldiers serving in the U.S. Army during World War II hoped that they might make permanent gains as a result of their military service and their willingness to defend their country. They were soon disabused of such illusions. Taps for a Jim Crow Army is a powerful collection of letters written by black soldiers in the 1940s to various government and nongovernment officials. The soldiers expressed their disillusionment, rage, and anguish over the discrimination and segregation they experienced in the Army. Most black troops were denied entry into army specialist schools; black officers were not allowed to command white officers; black soldiers were served poorer food and were forced to ride Jim Crow military buses into town and to sit in Jim Crow base movie theaters. In the South, German POWs could use the same latrines as white American soldiers, but blacks could not. The original foreword by Benjamin Quarles, professor emeritus of history at Morgan State University, and a new foreword by Bernard C. Nalty, the chief historian in the Office of Air Force History, offer rich insights into the world of these soldiers. Phillip McGuire is professor of history at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Foreword to First Edition	xiii
Acknowledgments	xix
Introduction	xxi
Uncle Sam's Boys	1	(30)
The Dilemma of the Black Officer	31	(28)
Laborers in Uniform	59	(20)
Illusions of Democracy	79	(20)
Biased White Officers	99	(26)
Appeals to the White House	125	(18)
Cruel and Usual Punishment	143	(22)
Northern Racism	165	(18)
The Dreaded South	183	(22)
Working with Pain	205	(22)
Jim Crow Goes Abroad	227	(16)
Conclusion	243	(20)
Recommended Books	263	(1)
Index	264