“The same thing for the Navy when ships go to sea “Men live in such intimacy aboard ship,” he argued, “that we simply can’t enlist Negroes above the rank of messman.”īlues guitarist Josh White criticized the hypocrisy of battling Nazi racial ideology with Jim Crow armed services in his 1941 song “ Uncle Sam Says.” After noting that Uncle Sam wanted no Black pilots, he continued: Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox told President Franklin Roosevelt and a gathering of civil rights leaders in June 1941 that he would resign his office before giving an order to end segregation. By 1940, Black sailors comprised a mere 2.3% of the force, most of them as kitchen workers. Navy liked things white - from Teddy Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet to their white dress uniforms and white gloves. In the years before Pearl Harbor, the U.S.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |