Description
This is the first detailed account of the 5,000 black troops who were reluctantly sent north by the United States Army during World War II to help build the Alaska Highway and install the companion Canol pipeline. Theirs were the first black regiments deployed outside the lower 48 states during the war. The enlisted men, most of them from the South, faced racial discrimination from white officers, were barred from entering any towns for fear they would procreate a "mongrel" race with local women, and endured winter conditions they had never experienced before. Despite this, they won praise for their dedication and their work. Congress in 2005 said that the wartime service of the four regiments covered here contributed to the eventual desegregation of the Armed Forces.
Author: John Virtue
Publisher: McFarland and Company, Inc.
Published: 11/27/2012
Pages: 228
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 9.90h x 7.00w x 0.70d
ISBN13: 9780786471171
ISBN10: 0786471174
BISAC Categories:
- History | Wars & Conflicts | World War II | General
- History | Military | United States
- Social Science | Ethnic Studies | American | African American & Black Studies
About the Author
The late John Virtue was director of the International Media Center at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. He lived in Miami Beach.