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A review by sean_mann
Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad by Matthew F. Delmont
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.5
An excellent corrective to the false or partial history most U.S. citizens are taught in school. While the focus on WWII keeps the scope narrow, I sense there are still many untold stories the author could have highlighted in this book.
Among the many things I learned from this book, it really hit home how important all of the support staff were in WWII and how, in spite of the fact that many black folks were kept out of "combat roles" those jobs were just as dangerous and often required braving the line of fire to bring supplies to the front lines. In fact, while Germans were working with a ratio of one support role to one combat role, the Allies had a ratio of about three to one, ensuring the military was well-stocked.
There were, of course, many brave black fighters who flew as fighter pilots and fought on the front lines as well. Oftentimes these fighters showed incredible bravery, but even when recommended for military honors the petitions were either stalled completely or reduced to a lower honor to try to maintain the lie that black people are inferior to white people.
As a final note, I am grateful to this book because, although I am a fan of Langston Hughes, I didn't know that he went to Spain to cover the Spanish Civil War as a political correspondent. This book led me to read some more of his poems about WWII and his work towards goal of double V-Day, meaning victory abroad against the Nazis and victory at home against our own fascist segregation.
Among the many things I learned from this book, it really hit home how important all of the support staff were in WWII and how, in spite of the fact that many black folks were kept out of "combat roles" those jobs were just as dangerous and often required braving the line of fire to bring supplies to the front lines. In fact, while Germans were working with a ratio of one support role to one combat role, the Allies had a ratio of about three to one, ensuring the military was well-stocked.
There were, of course, many brave black fighters who flew as fighter pilots and fought on the front lines as well. Oftentimes these fighters showed incredible bravery, but even when recommended for military honors the petitions were either stalled completely or reduced to a lower honor to try to maintain the lie that black people are inferior to white people.
As a final note, I am grateful to this book because, although I am a fan of Langston Hughes, I didn't know that he went to Spain to cover the Spanish Civil War as a political correspondent. This book led me to read some more of his poems about WWII and his work towards goal of double V-Day, meaning victory abroad against the Nazis and victory at home against our own fascist segregation.