Fighting for Hope: African American Troops of the 93rd Infantry Division in World War II and Postwar America (War/Society/Culture)

This history examines how African American military personnel of the 93rd Infantry Division asserted 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 Drawing on oral testimony, unpublished correspondence, archival records, memoirs, and diaries, Robert F. Jefferson explores the contradiction between war-effort idealism and entrenched discrimination. The division, led by white officers, was largely assigned to support roles during the advance on the Philippines and saw combat only later in the war. The army restricted contact between black soldiers and local women. Jefferson examines racial policy within the War Department, the lives and morale of black GIs and their families, debates over deploying black troops, and how soldiers' wartime experiences reshaped their views on race and citizenship in America. He documents the resilience of these men and their families against racism at war and home, and shows how their postwar hopes contributed to America's civil rights struggles. The book integrates social history and civil rights movement studies to examine how political meaning and identity were reflected in the aspirations of these black GIs and their role in transforming America.