Black Americans in the Pacific War with Dr. Matthew Delmont - Full video

www.pacificwarmuseum.org
For Black Americans World War II was about not only America’s standing in the world but also about how much actual freedom would exist in the United States. Black troops were at Pearl Harbor and Iwo Jima, and served throughout the Pacific Theater. They fought bravely in combat and they formed the backbone of the United States military’s supply effort, enabling the Allies to fight and win a global war. They did all of this while fighting in a segregated military. Black veterans returned from the war and kept fighting white supremacy at home, fueling the civil rights movement. Drawing on his upcoming book, historian Matthew Delmont explains how World War II raised questions regarding race and democracy that remain unanswered more than seventy years later. This is an inspiring history of bravery and patriotism in the face of unfathomable racism.
Speaker biography:
Dr. Matthew Delmont is the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History. An expert on African-American History and the history of Civil Rights, he is the author four books: Black Quotidian: Everyday History in African American Newspapers (Stanford University Press, 2019); Making Roots: A Nation Captivated (University of California Press, 2016); Why Busing Failed: Race, Media, and the National Resistance to School Desegregation (UC Press, 2016); and The Nicest Kids in Town: American Bandstand, Rock 'n' Roll, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in 1950s Philadelphia (UC Press, 2012). His next book, Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad, will be published by Viking Books in 2022. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Public Scholar Award to support this research. In addition to these books, he regularly shares his research with media outlets, including the New York Times, NPR, TheAtlantic.com, Washington Post, and The Conversation. Dr. Delmont has spoken and consulted with Fortune 500 companies, universities, colleges, and community organizations regarding civil rights, diversity and inclusivity, and how to reckon with the history of racism in America.
This is a recording from the Admiral Nimitz Symposium 2021.
For more information about symposiums, webinars, and our mission please visit us online:
www.pacificwarmuseum.org/
NMPW Copyright 2021

[@merkury06]

Thank you.

[@rockyracoon3233]

I could not imagine Joe Louis attempting to do in WW2 what Ali did during Vietnam. Louis would have faced a firing squad or spent the rest of his life in prison.