OSHER 826 - African Americans in World War II

In World War II, 1.1 million African American men and women served in the US Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard in Europe and the Pacific, in both combat support and combat arms units. They did so despite facing daily the institutionalized ignorance and blatant racism inherent in the US military establishment. African Americans thrived in the face of severe obstacles because of a legacy of suffering and succeeding, inspired leaders in the African American and white communities, the realization that white America would never have forgiven...nor forgotten, and the conviction that "it's my country, right or wrong." African Americans showed a nobility of character unparalleled in US military history. Come hear their story.