Many blacks protested, for their right to serve in the war, but the US military made it worse by enforcing racist policies. When blacks were placed in segregated service, they called for a double war. They wanted to fight for the country they loved, but also to prove their equal rights. During the attack at Pearl Harbor, cook Doris Adavis became the first black to complete a solo flight. Soon after 4 more blacks earned numerous awards for their performance. In 1939 there were only 125 licensed black pilots in the war, a year later, the number had raised to 231.
In 1945 blacks fought with whites. Women served as nurses, and Della H. Raney was the first black nurse in history. Many blacks got excited because they could finally be war officers in the marine & coast guards. More than 2 million blacks served in defense and federal civil service. Blacks were also in the battalions, engineer corporation.
When the war was over, blacks had trouble at home. The Klu Klux Klan murdered the veterans, but there were also positive things when they got home. Few major industries were without 1 black employee. Also more than 50 blacks became in the medical business, which was a very good job. Another bad thing was that blacks were migrating to the north & west which created questions on how blacks & whites could live together peacefully.
My topic, African Americans in World War II was a very interesting topic to research. I would like to honor the first known as Dorie Miller manned a machine gun, which made officials realize that blacks could be just as good as any other fighter in the war. Soon enough, blacks became airmen in the war.
Before Dorie Miller, military leaders believed that blacks were not physically or mentally "fit" to fly, but after this incident, many blacks entered the war as airmen. Tuskegee airmen were airmen who trained at the Tuskegee Institute, in Tuskegee, Alabama, but had to travel 40 miles to Montgomery to practice their real flying. As a result, Captain Benjamin O. books, internet and encyclopedia resources for making information about my topic, so I have created a bibliography to honor these people. I hope you enjoyed my paper, and you will also read information about my topic.
Della H. Raney was born in Suffolk, Virginia, on January 10, 1912. A graduate of the Lincoln Hospital School of Nursing in Durham, North Carolina, Raney was the first African-American nurse commissioned a lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps during World War II. Her first tour of duty was at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. As a lieutenant serving at Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama, she was appointed Chief Nurse, Army Nurse Corps in 1942, the first African American to be so appointed. She later served as Chief Nurse at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Raney was promoted to captain in 1945. After the war, she was assigned to head the nursing staff at the station hospital at Camp Beale, California. In 1946, she was promoted to major and served a tour of duty in Japan. Major Raney retired in 1978.