Fighting for Hope: African American Troops of the 93rd Infantry Division in World War II and Postwar America - Rilegato

Jefferson, Robert F.

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 080188828X ISBN 13: 9780801888281

Casa editrice: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr, 2008

Riassunto

This fascinating history shows how African-American military men and women seized their dignity through barracks culture and community politics during and after World War II.

Drawing on oral testimony, unpublished correspondence, archival records, memoirs, and diaries, Robert F. Jefferson explores the curious contradiction of war-effort idealism and entrenched discrimination through the experiences of the 93rd Infantry Division. Led by white officers and presumably unable to fight—and with the army taking great pains to regulate contact between black soldiers and local women—the division was largely relegated to support roles during the advance on the Philippines, seeing action only later in the war when U.S. officials found it unavoidable.

Jefferson discusses racial policy within the War Department, examines the lives and morale of black GIs and their families, documents the debate over the deployment of black troops, and focuses on how the soldiers’ wartime experiences reshaped their perspectives on race and citizenship in America. He finds in these men and their families incredible resilience in the face of racism at war and at home and shows how their hopes for the future provided a blueprint for America’s postwar civil rights struggles.

Integrating social history and civil rights movement studies, Fighting for Hope examines the ways in which political meaning and identity were reflected in the aspirations of these black GIs and their role in transforming the face of America.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

"An important and timely book, especially given the recent historic changes in the American political scene."

(World War II History)

"Robert F. Jefferson provides a complex and nuanced―yet highly readable―account of the African American soldiers who served in the all-black and segregated U.S. Army's 93rd Infantry Division... A marvelous book."

(Andrew E. Kersten Annals of Iowa)

"Jefferson's Fighting for Hope is a rigorously researched, richly etched re-creation of the formation of the all-black Ninety-third Infantry Division, which fought in the Pacific theater."

(Gerald Early Journal of American History)

"Well-written work."

(Alan Osur American Historical Review)

"Fighting for Hope provides an immensely useful model for not only historians, but also political scientists studying how race, war, and culture shaped the lives of African Americans in the early twentieth century. For students of black military history, this book is a must read."

(Judson L. Jeffries History: Reviews of New Books)

"An invaluable contribution to military history, African American history, and American social history."

(Hayward "Woody" Farrar Journal of American Ethnic History)

L'autore:

Robert F. Jefferson is an associate professor of history and director of the African American Studies Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2008
• ISBN 10: 080188828X
• ISBN 13: 9780801888281
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 321