The Double V: How Wars, Protest, and Harry Truman Desegregated America's Military Author: Visit Amazon's Rawn James Jr. Page | Language: English | ISBN:
1608196224 | Format: PDF
The Double V: How Wars, Protest, and Harry Truman Desegregated America's Military Description
From Booklist
In 1948, President Truman issued an executive order desegregating the armed forces, an initiative that was virulently attacked by segregationists but praised as an act of moral courage and statesmanship by leftists, liberals, and even some conservatives. By the 1960s, amid the turmoil of racial and political strife, the American military was often described as a hopeful example of racial cooperation, if not harmony. But Truman’s action, while admirable, did not come out of the blue. Rather, it was the culmination of two centuries of struggle and halting progress by African Americans and sympathetic whites to ensure that soldiers and sailors of color were afforded the respect and decent treatment they deserved. James tracks the process from the Revolutionary War to Truman’s order and beyond. His account is replete with noble strivers; some, including Frederick Douglass and Thurgood Marshall, are familiar names, but others—more obscure—also played important roles. This is both an informative and an engrossing chronicle of an essential struggle. --Jay Freeman
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Review
“Smart and insightful...an immensely readable book with plenty of modern relevance as today's American military considers who should be able to fight and how… James [is ]an excellent storyteller.”
—Christian Science Monitor
“As long as inequality persists, this tale of persistence, sacrifice, and triumph will continue to inspire.”—Publishers Weekly
“[James] skillfully examines how the Caucasian-dominated military, with a few notable exceptions in the top ranks, treated African-American members as second-class citizens… An inspiring story spanning parts of five centuries as African-Americans pushed back against the powers that be to achieve more-or-less equal treatment inside the military.”—Kirkus
“An engaging book.”—Library Journal
“Provide[s] important perspective.”—Bookpage
“Well-written, well-researched.”—History Book Club --This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
See all Editorial Reviews
- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Press (March 25, 2014)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1608196224
- ISBN-13: 978-1608196227
- Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
A letter from President Truman to a friend of his in Kansas City (page 219 my book)
“The main difficulty with the South is that they are living eighty years behind the times and the sooner they come out of it the better it will be for the country and themselves...I am asking for equality of opportunity for all human beings and, as long as I stay here, I am going to continue that fight...When a Mayor and a City Marshall can take a negro Sergeant off a bus in South Carolina, beat him up and put out one of his eyes, and nothing is done about it by the State Authorities, something is radically wrong with the system...I can’t approve of such goings on and I shall never approve it, as long as I am here...I am going to try to remedy it and if that ends up in my failure to be re-elected, that failure will be in a good cause.”
(This letter was held in private until after Truman’s death in 1972)
This book elucidates the struggle of African-Americans to participate fully in all branches of the U.S. military. The author gives us the history of African-Americans in the Civil War and more so in World Wars’ I and II.
All the armed forces were segregated in terms of eating areas, sleeping quarters... In Southern states African American soldiers were treated with disdain and worse by the civilian population – and in fact it sometimes reached the point of a mini-war.
Many attempts were made to desegregate the armed forces by the NAACP and other civil rights groups, but were met with unyielding resistance within the military and the government. Both would claim that the military was not the place to experiment with social change or that the military was merely a reflection of the overall society.
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