The Greatest (Black) Generation

By Maggi M. Morehouse

The black “Citizen Soldiers” who participated in the “Good War" also form part of the “Greatest Generation," yet they continue to be invisible in the general histories of World War II. Why have representations of World War II—books and films—overlooked the multitude of black experiences and voices? How can we “save the black privates” from obscurity? If we can agree that World War II was a watershed event that affected all Americans, then we must add in the narratives of the black Americans who served in the armed forces. I suspect one of the main reasons we overlook the history of black Americans during the war years is because the story is a complicated one—one filled with moments of glory as well as moments of shame—and many more moments of simple everyday life. It is a difficult job to include the story of a group of people who were excluded from American life. Still, World War II affected black Americans as deeply—perhaps more deeply—than white Americans. We need to complicate the narrative of World War II to include, not occlude, the black experience.

The black Americans who served in one of the two segregated infantry divisions during World War II were changed by their experiences in the war. The changes individual men experienced were not uniform, but each man's life was altered as a consequence of serving in the segregated Army. Black infantry combat soldiers from the 93rd Infantry Division fought the Japanese enemy on the island jungles of the southwest Pacific. The 92nd “Buffalo Soldier” Division routed the German enemy from the shores of the Italian Mediterranean to the peaks of the Italian Apennines, and finally they liberated the country village-by-village. On American shores black combat soldiers also fought an enemy, an old, intractable enemy—racism. All three theaters of war had long lasting effects on the participants.

We need to engage in a new conceptual framework when undertaking studies of World War II. It is inadequate, and to me boring, to continue with this trend of battle stories and hagiographies without adding in the narratives of all Americans. I am encouraged by the outpouring of recent publications that give voice to the legion of women, blacks, Native Americans, Japanese Americans, and Latinos who participated in the war effort. These new multicultural accounts—in the words of Navajo “code talkers,” black women WACs, black veterans and wives, “Rosita the Riveters,” interned Japanese families, and Puerto Rican combat soldiers—illustrate the multitude of stories and voices that have been largely overlooked. This new multicultural picture of World War II is the most realistic portrait of the American people; not that insipid, white warrior with his vapid homemaker wife image that has been constantly replicated within popular culture ad nauseam. These new texts demonstrate why these stories should not be ignored—the participants are all part of the American mosaic. These monographs complicate the narrative of World War II by addressing the pervasive and persistent “whitewashing.”

Maggi M. Morehouse is the author of Fighting in the Jim Crow Army: Black Men and Women Remember World War II and assistant professor of history and director of the honors program at the University of South Carolina, Aiken. 

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[SjP]

Let us never forget the brave men and women who paid the ultimate price for the freedom we enjoy today!

I invite you to read my Memorial Day Tribute entitled, The Price of Freedom

SjP