While traveling through the South in the spring of 1944, a young corporal named Rupert Trimmingham was refused service in diner after diner for one reason only—he was black. The proprieter of a railroad depot in Louisiana agreed to sell Trimmingham coffee and a sandwich, but only if he went around to the back and ate in the kitchen. Trimmingham then watched as a group of whites entered the station lunchroom and were promptly seated and served. The final insult came when he realized that all of the men, with the exception of two armed guards, were German prisoners of war being transported to an internment camp. Trimmingham’s ordeal was symbolic of a larger irony; as an estimated one million African-American servicemen (and women) fought for President Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” (freedom of speech and worship, and freedom from want and fear) abroad, they were denied basic equality in both their own country and the armed forces. “Double V!” became their rallying cry—victory in the war overseas, and victory against racism and oppression at home. And in both places they proved themselves time and time again. Facing enormous manpower shortages in the winter of 1944–45, U.S. military leaders (temporarily) desegregated the army and placed black platoons with white units during the Battle of the Bulge, where the black soldiers performed valiantly. In the air, the all-black 332nd Fighter Group—also known as the “Tuskegee Airmen”—earned 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses and hundreds of other medals for their heroism. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. (father of the 332nd’s commander, Benjamin O. Davis Jr.) was named America’s first black general in 1940, and during the war he was sent to Europe to head a special investigation into the treatment of African-American soldiers. Davis often shared anecdotes and observations about race relations with his wife, Sadie, and on September 22, 1945, the sixty-eight-year-old general expounded on the issues he thought needed to be addressed now that U.S. troops were preparing to return to the United States. General Davis suggested that Americans might even have something to learn from their wartime ally, the Soviet Union.
Headquarters Communications Zone
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS
United States Army
Dear Sadie:
This is another quiet day. So far no mail. The morning paper prints a dispatch from Pasadena, California, Sept. 21—Lt. Gen. John Clifford Hodges Lee and Mrs. Eve Brookie Ellis were married there on Wednesday. We are wondering if he is returning to us. Other than that news is as of yesterday and many days before.
I can hardly believe that today is Saturday. I have done nothing much during the week, except get ready to make the trip to England which begins on Monday. This should be very interesting as I am looking into the Information and Educational Program not only in its application to colored troops but its whole plan. I am particularly interested in the Orientation Programs. These have to do with citizenship. Here are examples: 1st Question: Do you believe there should be such a thing as “second class” citizenship? 2nd Question: Why is second class citizenship, which results from an un-American discrimination, harmful to our future stability after the war?
In these discussions questions are framed so as not to mention races or origins. Quotations are made from Abraham Lincoln’s statements made in 1855—“As a nation we began by declaring all men are created equal. We now read it ‘All men are created equal except Negroes.’ When the Know Nothings get control it will read ‘All men are created equal except Negroes, foreigners and Catholics.’” Discrimination makes all of us Poorer.
We cannot have a prosperous democracy with minority groups so poor that they cannot afford to buy the goods America produces.
This is a sample of how we are trying to make the soldier going back to civilian life think. I have tried to get them to eliminate the term Negro as far as possible. I have tried to impress them of the necessity of improving and lifting up the man farthest down. The man who is too poor to be self-supporting be he Negro, white man or any other kind of a man does not help our country. That the ideal democracy is one where all men mutually respect the rights of others and secure to them by training and privileges to labor, support themselves and enjoy the fruits of their labors.
I think we are making progress. We can discuss the question from the standpoint of groups rather than just Negroes or Cullud Folk. I am impressed with the earnestness and apparent sincerity of these men. Most of them are younger men who can be expected to carry on a number of years. The Reader’s Digest for Sept. 45 has an articles on the Soviet Union by William Hard. Under pages 7 & 8 there are some very positive statements. The two most effective characteristics of the Soviet Union in dealing with Asiatic peoples: The absolute renunciation of all racial discrimination. Its earnest efforts to improve the economic conditions of Asiatic life. America and Britain thus far have been unable to do just that. We talk a lot and say nice things. It ends there.
Well let us hope that we can at least get these men who have been snatched away from their homes and seen much suffering, to thinking with the idea of trying to get along with their fellows. Perhaps we shall develop a better world.
I’ve filled you with a lot of “Shop.” It will give you something to read. It will give you an idea of the lines along which I am trying to make folks think. In the midst of it all I’m loving you, thinking of you and longing to be with you.
Lovingly,
Ollie
Indeed, many of the “younger men” General Davis hoped would carry on efforts to improve race relations back home would do just that; after the war thousands of veterans—black and white—helped set the foundation for the civil rights movement that flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1948 President Harry S Truman issued Executive Order 9981, officially ending segregation in the military and mandating equal treatment and opportunity “to all persons in the Armed Services without regard to race.” Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Sr. retired that same year, and his son, after serving in the Korean War, became the first African-American air force general in history.