Word War II (jan 1, 1939 – jan 1, 1945)
Description:
Events that happaned during WWII that had an impact on African Americans in the Armed Forces.> Executive Order 8802, 1941
Discrimination is banned from the defense industry
> Amendment to Nurse Training Bill 1943
Army capped the total number of African American nurses accepted to 56, and would not lift this cap until 1944.
> First National Hero of World War II 1941
Doris "Dorie" Miller became first African American to be awarded the Navy Cross.
> "Black Panthers" late 1944
First African American Tank unit
Most African Americans serving at the beginning of WWII were assigned to non-combat units
and relegated to service duties, such as supply, maintenance, and transportation, their work behind
front lines was equally vital to the war effort. By 1945 more African Americans were put into positions such as infantrymen, pilots, tankers, medics, and officers in increasing numbers.
For members of the Military Segregation was still very prominent such as sleeping quarters, transportation, canteens, church services
Sources:
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/topics/african-americans-world-war-ii
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/sites/default/files/2017-07/african-americans.pdf
Added to timeline:
Date:
jan 1, 1939
jan 1, 1945
~ 6 years