1st Edition

Freedom to Serve Truman, Civil Rights, and Executive Order 9981

By Jon Taylor Copyright 2013
224 Pages
by Routledge

218 Pages
by Routledge

224 Pages
by Routledge

On the eve of America’s entry into World War II, African American leaders pushed for inclusion in the war effort and, after the war, they mounted a concerted effort to integrate the armed services. Harry S. Truman’s decision to issue Executive Order 9981 in 1948, which resulted in the integration of the armed forces, was an important event in twentieth century American history. In Freedom to... Read more

 Chapter One  Civil Rights and Segregation during the War

Chapter Two  Civil Rights and Segregation after the War

Chapter Three  President Truman Responds

Chapter Four  To Secure These Rights

Chapter Five Freedom to Serve

Chapter Six  The Legacy of To Secure These Rights and Freedom to Serve

Documents

The Negroes’ Historical and Contemporary Role in National Defense November 1940

Statement by President Franklin D. Roosevelt ca. 1940

Survey and Recommendations concerning the integration of the Negro soldier into the army, September, 22, 1941

A. Philip Randolph to Harry S. Truman December 10, 1947

Memo from Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training to Harry S. Truman March 22, 1948

Utilization of Negro Manpower in the Postwar Army Policy, Circular No. 124 April 27, 1946

Testimony of A. Philip Randolph before the Senate Armed Services Committee March 31, 1948 "Civil Disobedience"

President’s Civil Rights Message on the Armed Forces May 11, 1948

A. Philip Randolph to Harry S. Truman [Telegram] July 16, 1948

A. Philip Randolph to Rev. J. Raymond Henderson August 24, 1948

Remarks to President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, January 12, 1949.

Negro in the Army April 28, 1949

Air Force Press Release May 11, 1949

Press Release Secretary Johnson Approves Navy Proposals, June 7, 1949

Press Release Army Program for Racial Equality approved by Secretary of Defense, September 30, 1949

Charles Fahy memo to H.S.T. December 14, 1949

A. Philip Randolph to Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson January 13, 1950

A. Philip Randolph to Charles Wesley Burton April 7, 1950

Statement by President on the Committee’s Report, May 22, 1950

Freedom to Serve May 22, 1950

Mr. Jonas Schwartz to Hubert H. Humphrey January 22, 1951

A. Philip Randolph to Jonas Schwartz January 24, 1951

Biography

Taylor, Jon

In Freedom to Serve, Jon E. Taylor traces the development of civil rights policy in the American military from the World War II era to the present, focusing on the civil rights campaigns that pressured the Franklin D. Roosevelt and Truman administrations for faster and greater change. Better yet, he does so in a way that shows students how a historian works and encourages them to think through historical problems themselves with the primary source documents he includes--some of them well-known, others previously obscure. Freedom to Serve is a terrific teaching tool.

J. Todd Moye author of Freedom Flyers: The Tuskegee Airmen of World War II