Dutch Children of African American Liberators: Race, Military Policy and Identity in World War II and Beyond

In the Netherlands, a small group of biracial citizens has entered its eighth decade of lives that have been often puzzling and difficult, but which offer a unique insight into the history of race relations in America. Though their African American fathers had brought liberation from Nazi tyranny at the end of World War II, they were in a segregated American military derived from a racially divided American society. Decades later, some of their children could finally know of a father's identity and the life he had led after the war. Just one would be able to find an embrace in his arms, and just one would arrive at her father's American grave after 73 years. But they could now understand their own Dutch lives in the context of their fathers' lives in America.

Author: Mieke Kirkels
Publisher: McFarland and Company, Inc.
Published: 09/30/2020
Pages: 250
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.70d
ISBN13: 9781476676937
ISBN10: 1476676933
BISAC Categories:
- History | Wars & Conflicts | World War II | General
- Social Science | Ethnic Studies | American | African American & Black Studies
- Social Science | Anthropology | Cultural & Social

About the Author
Mieke Kirkels is a public historian in the Netherlands, and, in 2019, was appointed as an officer in the Royal Order of Oranje Nassau, which honors Dutch citizens for their service to the nation. Her previous books have been based on research and oral history about the American contributions to her country in World War II, with special emphasis on the role played by African American forces. Chris Dickon is an Emmy-awarded former broadcast producer whose work develops new information about the human results of Americans at war. He has written about the places where named American war dead are still buried, the role of Americans in the non-American forces of the two world wars, and the social results of U.S. military racial policy and practice in Europe. He lives in Portsmouth, Virginia.