The Strange Story of Black Soldiers in England During World War II
At the same time, the political machinery headed by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was decidedly more ambivalent. In fact, Churchill's World War II Cabinet had at first attempted to halt the arrival of black American soldiers, and when that didn't work they accepted the American rules of segregation of black soldiers from white soldiers. (One wonders what would have happened if Churchill had suggested segregation based on blood color.) To his credit, the British Secretary of War James Grigg was the only member of Churchill's Cabinet to openly suggest that perhaps segregating American soldiers was no better than the Jim Crow laws that dominated the racist southern United States. Nevertheless, the official stance of the British government while black soldiers joined to fight World War II to save their pasty asses was that citizens should "avoid becoming too friendly" with black GI's.
Another little known fact about the history of black servicemen in England is that they routinely found themselves involved in scrapes, fights and fracases with their white brethren. In fact, the general consensus is that a fight broke out between black and white American soldiers almost five times a week in that cold winter that tied 1943 to 1944. Perhaps surprisingly, the people of England-rightfully ignoring the idiotic declarations of their leaders-tended to back up the stories of the black soldiers more than often than that of white soldiers. Perhaps the most notorious story of the brief sojourn of black soldiers in England during World War II has to do with the story of Leroy Henry. Like countless black men before him, Leroy Henry had been convicted and sentenced to execution on charges of raping a white woman. The utter lack of evidence to back up this contention was trumpeted so loudly by a British newspaper that came to Henry's defense that General Dwight Eisenhower was eventually forced to step in and overrule the verdict.
Published by Timothy Sexton - Featured Contributor in Arts & Entertainment
Timothy Sexton was named this site's very first Writer of the Year. Today he has two daily columns and one weekly column on Yahoo! Movies as well as frequent irregular contributions. Mr. Sexton was twice nam... View profile
- The French Resistance in World War IIIn France during World War II, a group of brave individuals banded together to free their country from the occupying German Force. This group resisted the German force and showed courage in the darkest hour of their...
- A History of England's Attitude Towards the United States from World War I to Worl...This paper details the global changes caused by World War I and II. It looks specifically at England and the United States, and it uses exclusively the editorials found in the English publication "The Spectator."
- World War II Medal of Honor Winner Matt UrbanMatt Urban was a fearless and dedicated leader of his men in World War II. This article relates how he won the Medal of Honor and the respect of his country.
- The Trials and Tribulations of Germans After World War II (1945 - 1949)The Big Three, the U S, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union worked together for years with one common goal in mind: defeating Nazi Germany. In February of 1945, these Ally forces met at Yalta for the second of three...
Audie Murphy - Most Decorated Combat Soldier of World War IIAudie Murphy, a farmboy from Texas, became the most decorated GI in World War II and in the years following the war became one of Hollywood's brightest stars.
- African-American Soldiers' Roles in World War II
- Worst World War II Movies Ever, Part One: Battle of the Bulge
- Book Gifts for World War II Veterans
- What If Adolf Hitler Defeated the Soviet Union in World War II?
- "The Black Dahlia" the Case of Elizabeth Short is Still an Enigma
- World War II Descriptive Timeline
- World War II, International Institutions and Cold War Politics
6 Comments
Post a CommentFor a true account please see this video -
http://vimeo.com/10963605
Black G.I.s were stationed in my hometown during WWII. They were well received and respected. The British Government's stance of 'Don't get too friendly' was a direction from the American Armed Forces...
I agree wholeheartedly with Carol Gilbert who made a previous comment. My father, who died in December and my father-in-law were both WWII veterans. If they were good enough to serve and protect the US in battle WHY COULDN'T WHITE AMERICA FEEL THEY WERE GOOD ENOUGH TO SIT BESIDE THEM?
They did not think they would ever see an African American become president of these United States. So, everything they experienced, including German women believing that black men had tails (as in monkeys), was made worthwhile last when they voted on November 4th!
From all accounts, Black G.I's stationed in Britain suffered far more from racist U.S. white serviceman(especially the segragationists from the Deep South) than from the locals. The local British kids in particular loved lining up to watch the black American G.I's march down the country roads and do their fantastic Jive marching army songs - and maybe get a rare pack of American chewing gum or chocolate thrown their way by a friendly G.I.
Parts of our history are not sweet to look back upon. This country will repeat many of these mistakes just because of the apathy in education. ;-}}>
Some little-known WWII stories involving African-Americans there--outside of the better-known Tuskegee Airmen. They, of course, made a movie about the Tuskegee pilots a number of years ago--but I think a movie detailing the hardships of African-Americans in England (especially the Leroy Henry story) while fighting in the war would be fascinating. No doubt a British film has already been done (maybe for the BBC or other TV network), but we haven't seen it across the pond. I just wonder if Ken Burns will touch on any of that in his "The War" airing on PBS this week? Probably not, because it's strictly about small-town American heroes who fought all the major war battles. But the stories about how Japanese-Americans were treated in America (who didn't necessarily side with Hirohito) is just appalling. Once again, the British were ahead of us...even in how races are treated.
So revolting that people would let a black man die for them but would not sit next to him or sleep in the same quarters.