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to Current Controversies: History Behind the Headlines
Today, many Americans consider
the U.S. Army the country's most successful effort at racial integration.
Colin Powell, now the country's first African American Secretary
of State, has become a symbol of the Army's relative openness.
He rose through the Army's ranks to become the first black head
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Yet the integration of the armed
forces is a relatively recent development. As recently as the
end of 1950, when the Korean War was entering its seventh month,
African American troops were trained at a segregated facility
at Fort Dix, New Jersey, near New York City. Even later, in the
fall of 1954, an all-African American unit, the 94th Engineer
Battalion, was stationed in Europe.
African Americans have participated
actively in the country's wars. An African American minuteman,
Prince Easterbrooks, a slave, was wounded at the battle of Lexington,
and, altogether, some 5,000 African Americans fought for American
independence during the Revolution despite British promises of
freedom to any slaves who defected to the Loyalist side.
It was not until the Civil War
that African Americans were required to fight in racially separate
units. In 1869, Congress made racial separation in the military
official government policy. This policy remained intact through
the Spanish American War, World War I (when two African American
divisions participated in combat), and World War II.
It was during World War II that
the policy of racial segregation within the military began to
break down under pressure from African American leaders, who pointed
out the contradiction of a country fighting Nazi racism having
a segregated military. In March 1943, the War Department ordered
the desegregation of recreational facilities at military facilities.
In mid-1944, the War Department ordered all buses to be operated
in a non-discriminatory fashion.
Military necessity helped to shatter
racial barriers. In December, 1944, 250,000 German troops launched
a massive counteroffensive, later known as the Battle of the Bulge,
in Belgium. With only 80,000 Allied troops available in the area
to resist the German forces, black troops were invited to volunteer
to fight alongside white troops. Some 2,500 African American troops
volunteered. Although black and white troops served in separate
platoons, this experience helped the Army break with its usual
practice of placing African American troops in separate units
and assigning them to non-combat duties.
In February 1948, President Harry
S. Truman directed the U.S. armed forces to desegregate as quickly
as possible. In July, he issued Executive Order 9981 calling on
the military to end racial discrimination. It would take several
years - and another war - before the military actually ended segregation.
Three factors would ultimately lead to integration: the growing
recognition that segregation undercut the United States' moral
stature during the Cold War; the need to reduce racial tensions
within the military; and the manpower needs produced by the Korean
war.
Following President Truman's Executive
Order, two boards were established to make recommendations about
integration. A presidential commission chaired by Charles Fahy
recommended an end to discrimination in jobs, schooling, assignment,
and recruitment. An Army board headed by Lieutenant General S.J.
Chamberlin called on the Army to remain segregated and retain
racial quotas. In the end, the Army agreed to open all jobs and
military training schools on a non-segregated basis. There were
isolated examples at unit-level integration, including at Camp
Jackson, South Carolina in early 1951.
It was the Korean War that finally
led to the desegregation of previously all-white combat units.
After six months of fighting, insufficient white replacement troops
were available and black enlistments were high. In February 1951,
the Chamberlin board was asked to reexamine its conclusions. Although
it acknowledged that integrated units had fewer racial tensions
than a combination of segregated units, it continued to call for
a 10 percent Army quota of African Americans. At this time, 98
percent of the Army's black soldiers served in segregated units.
In May, General Matthew Ridgway requested permission to desegregate
his command.
In March, 1951, the Army asked
Johns Hopkins University's Operations Research Office to analyze
the impact of integrating its forces. Extensive surveys of troops
and analysis of combat performance in Korea revealed that:
- Integration raised the morale
of African American soldiers and did not reduce that of white
soldiers;
- Integration was favored by
black soldiers and was not opposed by most white soldiers;
- Experience in integrated units
increased white support for integration;
- Integration improved fighting
effectiveness.
An essential finding is that integration
reduced racial tensions within the military. In December 1951
the Chief of Staff ordered all Army commands to desegregate.
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