Divisions : a new history of racism and resistance in America's World War II military

The first comprehensive narrative of racism in America's World War II military and the resistance to it. America's World War II military was a force of unalloyed good. While saving the world from Nazism, it also managed to unify a famously fractious American people. At least that's the story many Americans have long told themselves. Divisions offers a decidedly different view. Prizewinning historian Thomas A. Guglielmo draws together more than a decade of extensive research to tell sweeping yet personal stories of race and the military; of high command and ordinary GIs; and of African Americans, white Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. Guglielmo argues that the military built not one color line, but a complex tangle of them. Taken together, they represented a sprawling structure of white supremacy. Freedom struggles arose in response, democratizing portions of the wartime military and setting the stage for postwar desegregation and the subsequent civil rights movements. But the costs of the military's color lines were devastating. They impeded America's war effort; undermined the nation's rhetoric of the Four Freedoms; further naturalized the concept of race; deepened many whites' investments in white supremacy; and further fractured the American people. Offering a dramatic narrative of America's World War II military and of the postwar world it helped to fashion. Guglielmo fundamentally reshapes our understanding of the war and of mid-twentieth-century America. "Divisions examines racism and resistance in America's World War II military. The military built not one color line, but a complex tangle of them, involving every imaginable aspect of military life. Who served? Who fought? Who died? Who gave orders and who was forced to follow them? Who received the best ratings and jobs and pay and promotions? Who was court-martialed? Who received furloughs and leaves? Who received honorable or dishonorable discharges? Who ate at the officers' club? Who danced at the post's main recreation center? Who drank at the best pub in Cherbourg, France or swam at the nicest pool in Calcutta? Color lines, which divided American troops in various configurations, often spoke definitively in all these matters and more. Taken together, they represented a sprawling structure of white supremacy and of African American, Japanese American, and other nonwhites' subordination. Varied freedom struggles arose in response, democratizing portions of the wartime military and setting the postwar stage for its desegregation and for the flowering of civil rights movements beyond. But the costs of the military's color lines were devastating. They impeded America's war effort; undermined the nation's Four-Freedoms rhetoric; traumatized, even killed, an unknowable number of nonwhite troops; further naturalized the very concept of race; deepened many whites' investments in white supremacy, especially anti-black racism; and further fractured the American people"-- Provided by publisher Divisions examines racism and resistance in America’s World War II military. The military built not one color line, but a complex tangle of them, involving every imaginable aspect of military life. Who served? Who fought? Who died? Who gave orders and who was forced to follow them? Who received the best ratings and jobs and pay and promotions? Who was court-martialed? Who received furloughs and leaves? Who received honorable or dishonorable discharges? Who ate at the officers’ club? Who danced at the post’s main recreation center? Who drank at the best pub in Cherbourg, France, or swam in the nicest pool in Calcutta? Color lines, which divided American troops in various configurations, often spoke definitively in all these matters and more. Taken together, they represented a sprawling structure of white supremacy and of African American, Japanese American, and other nonwhite subordination. Varied freedom struggles arose in response, democratizing portions of the wartime military and setting the postwar stage for its desegregation and for the flowering of civil rights movements beyond. But the costs of the military’s color lines were devastating. They impeded America’s war effort, undermined the nation’s Four Freedoms rhetoric, traumatized, even killed, an unknowable number of nonwhite troops, further naturalized the very concept of race, deepened many whites’ investments in white supremacy, especially anti-black racism, and further fractured the American people. 'Divisions' draws together the history of race and the military; of high command and ordinary GIs; and of African Americans, white Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, arguing that racist divisions were a defining feature of America's World War II military