Tracing Your Roots for Important Roles: Learning from Yesterday, Changing Today Exhibit: Desegregation of the Armed Forces What will your legacy be? Office of Human Relations Table of Contents Introduction 3 Desegregation of the Armed Forces: Photographs 3 Desegregation of the Armed Forces: Chronology 4 Desegregation of the Armed Forces: Selected Documents 9 Statement by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, CA. 1940 9 Draft of Letter for Chester Bowles to James Forrestal, CA. 1948 10 A. Philip Randolph to Harry S. Truman, March 18, 1948 11 Harry S. Truman to David Niles, March 22, 1948. Civil Rights and Minorities File 13 Kenneth Royall to Clark Clifford, March 22, 1948. Harry S. Truman Administration 14 Letter of Transmittal -- A. Philip Randolph to Harry S. Truman 15 Executive Order 9981: Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services 17 Report of the Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the ArmeD Services Committee 19 Draft of Proposed Directive for the Armed Forces 1 July 1949 TO 1 July 1950 20 Credits 20 Links 20 Quiz 20 1 A. Philip Randolph My Dad & Truman My Dad March 22, 1948: African-American leaders meet with President Truman and urge him to insist on anti-segregation amendments in the legislation being considered in Congress that would reinstitute the draft. One of the leaders, the Rev. Dr. William Y. Bell, was my father. As far as my research can ascertain, this is the meeting referred to by A. Phillip Randolph, the delegation leader, in the letter on page 22. Standing, Left to Right: E. Henderson; Dr. Benjamin Mays, Dean and President, Morehouse College; W. Townsend; A. Philip Randolph, Union Organizer of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, leader of the delegation; Rev. Dr. William Y. Bell, professor of theology, Howard University, Bishop of the C.M.E. Church (My Dad); D. Davis, C. Johnson; Channing Tobias (hidden), Chairman, NAACP Board of Trustees and Secretary of the National Council of the YMCA; R. Booker; Lester Granger (rear), Assistant Executive Secretary, National Urban League Seated, Left to Right: Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, Founder, Bethune Cookman College; Harry Truman; Walter White, Executive Secretary, NAACP The Desegregation of the Armed Forces collection, held in the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum, focuses on President Truman's groundbreaking decision. It includes 247 documents totaling 1,187 pages, covering the years 1938-1953. Supporting material includes an Archival Materials Guide and finding aid for the Records of the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services. My father, Bishop William Y. Bell, served as one member of the delegation (shown in the photograph above) that advocated for President Truman to desegregate the Armed Forces. Their effort, spearheaded by A. Philip Randolph, culminated in Executive Order 9981 (see page 20). The purpose of this exhibit is both to highlight the history of desegregation of the Armed Forces and the implications of that action upon our lives today and to encourage visitors to this site to do research into their own ancestries and the roles their family members have played -- large and small, positive or negative -- toward a more integrated society (see page 24 for links to trace your roots). Then make a plan of how YOU will ensure a legacy of inclusiveness for your children and/or for your community here in Chatham County. Esther B. Coleman, Director, Office of Human Relations 2 Armed Forces: DePhotographs segregation of the Armed Forces: Photographs Title: African-American and white soldiers during World War II. Date: March 1, 1945 Title: World War II soldiers with captured Nazi flag. Date: March 1, 1945 Title: President Truman shakes hands with members of the military at Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony. Date: December 24, 1947 Title: Machine gun crew during the Korean War. Date: ca. 1950 3 Desegregation of the Armed Forces: Chronology 1945 - 1953 1945 September 1945: Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson appoints a board of three general officers to investigate the Army's policy with respect to African Americans and to prepare a new policy that would provide for the efficient use of African Americans in the Army. This board is called the Gillem Board, after its chairman, General Alvan C. Gillem, Jr. October 1, 1945: The Gillem Board holds its first meeting. Four months of investigation follow. 1946 February 1946: African-American World War II veteran Isaac Woodard is attacked and blinded by policemen in Aiken, South Carolina. April 1946: The report of the Gillem Board, "Utilization of Negro Manpower in the Postwar Army Policy," is issued. The report concludes that the Army's future policy should be to "eliminate, at the earliest practicable moment, any special consideration based on race." The report, however, does not question that segregation would continue to underlie the Army's policy toward African Americans. Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall later characterized the policy recommended by the Gillem Board as "equality of opportunity on the basis of segregation." July 1946: Two African-American veterans and their wives are taken from their car near Monroe, Georgia, by a white mob and shot to death; their bodies are found to contain 60 bullets. July 30, 1946: Attorney General Tom Clark announces that President Truman has instructed the Justice Department to "proceed with all its resources to investigate [the Monroe, Georgia atrocity] and other crimes of oppression so as to ascertain if any Federal statute can be applied." September 12, 1946: In a letter to the National Urban League, President Truman says that the government has "an obligation to see that the civil rights of every citizen are fully and equally protected." December 6, 1946: President Truman appoints the President's Committee on Civil Rights. 1947 May 1947: The President's Advisory Commission on Universal Training gives a report that says "nothing could be more tragic for the future attitude of our people, and for the unity of our Nation, than a program [referring to the Truman administration's proposed Universal Military Training program] in which our Federal Government forced our young manhood to live for a period of time in an atmosphere which emphasized or bred class or racial difference." October 29, 1947: The President\'s Committee on Civil Rights issues its landmark report, To Secure These Rights. The report condemns segregation wherever it exists and criticizes specifically segregation in the armed forces. The report recommends legislation and administrative action "to end immediately all discrimination and segregation based on race, color, creed or national origin in...all branches of the Armed Services." 4 November 1947: Clark Clifford presents a lengthy memorandum to President Truman which argues that the civil rights issue and the African-American vote are important elements in a winning strategy for the 1948 campaign. November 1947: A. Philip Randolph and Grant Reynolds organize the Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training. 1948 January 1948: President Truman decides to end segregation in the armed forces and the civil service through administrative action (executive order) rather than through legislation. February 2, 1948: President Truman announces in a special message to Congress on civil rights issues that he has "instructed the Secretary of Defense to take steps to have the remaining instances of discrimination in the armed services eliminated as rapidly as possible." March 22, 1948: African-American leaders meet with President Truman and urge him to insist on anti-segregation amendments in the legislation being considered in Congress that would reinstitute the draft. March 27, 1948: Twenty African-American organizations meeting in New York City issue the "Declaration of Negro Voters," which demands, among other things, "that every vestige of segregation and discrimination in the armed forces be forthwith abolished." March 30, 1948: A. Philip Randolph, representing the Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training, testifies to the Senate Armed Services Committee that African Americans would refuse to serve in the armed forces if a proposed new draft law does not forbid segregation. April 26, 1948: Sixteen African-American leaders tell Secretary of Defense James V. Forrestal that African Americans will react strongly unless the armed forces end segregation. May 1948: President Truman's staff considers advising the President to create a committee to oversee the integration of the armed forces. June 26, 1948: A. Philip Randolph announces the formation of the League for Non-Violent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation. Randolph informed President Truman on June 29, 1948 that unless the President issued an executive order ending segregation in the armed forces, African-American youth would resist the draft law. July 13, 1948: The platform committee at the Democratic National Convention rejects a recommendation put forward by Mayor Hubert H. Humphrey of Minneapolis calling for abolition of segregation in the armed forces. President Truman and his advisors support and the platform committee which approves a moderate platform plank on civil rights intended to placate the South. July 14, 1948: Delegates to the Democratic National Convention vote to overrule the platform committee and the Truman administration in favor of a liberal civil rights plank that called for the desegregation of the armed forces. Immediately following July 14, 1948: While his staff is drafting an executive order that would end segregation in the armed forces, Truman decides to include the establishment of a presidential committee to implement the order. July 26, 1948: President Truman signs Executive Order 9981, which states, "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin." The order also establishes the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and opportunity in the Armed Services. 5 July 26, 1948: Army staff officers state anonymously to the press that Executive Order 9981 does not specifically forbid segregation in the Army. July 27, 1948: Army Chief of Staff General Omar N. Bradley states that desegregation will come to the Army only when it becomes a fact in the rest of American society. July 29, 1948: President Truman states in a press conference that the intent of Executive Order 9981 is to end segregation in the armed forces. August 2, 1948: Democratic National Committee chairman J. Howard McGrath meets with A. Philip Randolph and other leaders representing an organization called the League for Non-violent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation and assures them that the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services would seek to end segregation in the armed forces. A short time after this meeting, Randolph announced that his organization's civil disobedience campaign had ended. August 14, 1948: Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall is reported in the press to have admitted that "segregation in the Army must go," but not immediately. September 18, 1948: The White House announces the names of the members of the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services (called the Fahy Committee, after its chairman, Charles Fahy). The committee's five active members include two African Americans. Ca. October 9, 1948: The Navy announces that it is extending the policy of integration that it had begun in the closing months of World War II. December 1948: Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall proposes to the Secretary of Defense James V. Forrestal that the Army create an experimental integrated unit that would test how integration would affect the Army. December 1948: Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington submits an integration plan to President Truman that proposes assigning African Americans on the basis of merit alone. 1949 January 12, 1949: The Fahy Committee holds its first meeting with President Truman and the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Defense. "I want the job done," the President said, "and I want it done in a way so that everyone will be happy to cooperate to get it done." January 13, 1949: The Fahy Committee holds its first hearings. Representatives of the Army defend segregation of African Americans. The Marine Corps also defends its segregation policy and admits that only one of its 8,200 officers is African American. The Navy and Air Force both indicate they will integrate their units. The Navy admits that only five of its 45,000 officers are African American. Ca. January 22, 1949: The Air Force tells the press it has completed plans for full integration of its units. March 28, 1949: The three service secretaries testify before the Fahy Committee. Secretary of the Air Force Stuart Symington and Secretary of the Navy John L. Sullivan both testify that they are opposed to segregation and are pursuing policies to integrate their services. Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall argues in favor of maintaining segregation, saying that the Army "was not an instrument for social evolution." 6 April 1, 1949: Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson issues a directive to the Secretaries of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force that says it is the Department of Defense's policy that there should be equality of treatment and opportunity for all in the armed services, and that "qualified Negro personnel shall be assigned to fill any type of position...without regard to race." May 11, 1949: Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson approves the integration plans of the Air Force, but he rejects those of the Army and the Navy. Following May 11, 1949: The Fahy Committee makes recommendations to the Army and Navy regarding changes in their integration plans. The committee recommended to the Army, among other things, that it desegregate its units and abolish its 10% enlistment quota for African-American recruits. Ca. June 7, 1949: Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson accepts a revised Navy integration plan. June 7, 1949: Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson rejects the Army's revised integration plan and formally asks the Army to consider the Fahy Committee\'s recommendations when drafting another revision of its plan. July 5, 1949: Secretary of the Army Gordon Gray and Army Chief of Staff General Omar N. Bradley present a revised plan to the Fahy Committee that would maintain segregation in Army units and continue the 10% recruitment quota for African Americans. July 25 and 27, 1949: Charles Fahy advises President Truman, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson, and Secretary of the Army Gordon Gray that the proposed Army integration policy should not be. August to September, 1949: Discussions between the Fahy Committee and the Army bring no resolution to their differences over the issues of segregation in Army units and the 10% recruitment quota for African Americans. September 27, 1949: The Army informs the Fahy Committee that it is sending its revised integration plan to the Secretary of Defense. A copy of the plan was not provided to the Fahy Committee. September 30, 1949: Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson approves the Army's integration plan, which would maintain segregated units and the 10% enlistment quota for African Americans. October 6, 1949: President Truman calls the Army's integration plan "a progress report" and says that his goal is the integration of the Army. October 11, 1949: Charles Fahy writes Truman that the Army's integration plan would maintain segregation. Ca. late November 1949: The Army completes another revision of its integration plan and submits it for approval. The plan still includes provisions that would maintain segregated units and the 10% recruitment quota. Ca. late November 1949: Charles Fahy warns the Army that the Fahy Committee will not approve the Army's revised integration plan and will release a statement to the press condemning it. Ca. early December 1949: The White House asks the Fahy Committee not to issue its threatened statement condemning the Army's integration plan and instead to make recommendations for modifications to the plan. December 15, 1949: The Fahy Committee submits to the White House its recommendations for modifications to the Army's integration plan, including the elimination of segregated units and the 10% recruitment quota. December 27, 1949: Secretary of the Army Gordon Gray meets with Charles Fahy to discuss changes in the Army's integration plan. Gray agrees to integrate the Army's units, but wants to do so gradually. 7 1950 January 14, 1950: The Fahy Committee approves the Army's integration plan, despite the issue of the 10% recruitment quota for African Americans being still unresolved. January 16, 1950: The Fahy Committee informs President Truman of its approval of the Army's integration plan, and the Army officially issues its new integration policy in Special Regulations No. 600-629-1. Ca. February 1, 1950: President Truman decides the Fahy Committee should stay in existence until the Army's use of the 10% recruitment quota for African Americans is ended. March 1, 1950: Secretary of the Army Gordon Gray informs President Truman that he understands that if the Army abandons its 10% recruitment quota for African Americans, and if a disproportional number of African Americans enters the Army as a result, then the Army has the President's approval to reinstate the 10% quota. Ca. March 13, 1950: The Army agrees to abolish its 10% recruitment quota for African Americans. March 27, 1950: President Truman tells Secretary of the Army Gordon Gray that he appreciates the Army's abolishing its 10% quota for African Americans. "I am sure everything will work out as it should," Truman said. May 22, 1950: The Fahy Committee submits its final report, "Freedom to Serve," to the President, who says in receiving it that he is confident the committee's recommendations will be carried out. Ca. June 1950 and following: Commanders at Army training facilities find it impossible to predict how many AfricanAmerican recruits they will receive, with the result that the Army decides unofficially to integrate basic training. Ca. June 1950 and following: Segregation in Army units serving in Korea gradually breaks down as white combat units suffer combat casualties and as large numbers of African-American recruits cannot be absorbed into segregated black service units. July 6, 1950: President Truman discontinues the Fahy Committee. "The necessary programs [to integrate the armed forces] having been adopted," Truman wrote the committee, "I feel that the Armed Services should now have an opportunity to work out in detail the procedures which will complete the steps so carefully initiated by the Committee." 1951 Ca. January 1951: The Eighth Army in Korea adopts an unofficial policy of integrating African-American soldiers who cannot be effectively absorbed into segregated African-American units. March 18, 1951: The Department of Defense announces that all basic training has been integrated. April 1951: General Matthew B. Ridgway, head of the United Nations Command in Korea, requests that the Army allow him to integrate all African Americans within his command. July 26, 1951: The Army announces that the integration of all its units in Korea, Japan, and Okinawa will be completed within six months. 1953 October 1953: The Army announces that 95% of African-American soldiers are serving in integrated units. 8 Desegregation of the Armed Forces: Selected Documents Statement by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, ca. 1940. Civil Rights and Minorities 9 Draft of letter for Chester Bowles to James Forrestal, ca. 1948. Nash Files, Truman Papers. 10 A. Philip Randolph to Harry S. Truman, with attached White House memos, March 18, 1948. Official File, Truman Papers 11 12 Harry S. Truman to David Niles, with attached memorandum, March 22, 1948. Civil Rights and Minorities File, Niles Papers 13 Kenneth Royall to Clark Clifford, with attachments, March 22, 1948. Harry S. Truman Administration, Elsey Papers 14 Letter of Transmittal -- A. Philip Randolph to Harry S. Truman, with attached White House memos 15 16 Executive Order 9981 Establishing President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services Whereas it is essential that there be maintained in the armed services of the United States the highest standards of democracy, with equality of treatment and opportunity for all those who serve in our country's defense: Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, by the Constitution and the statutes of the United States, and as Commander in Chief of the armed services, it is hereby ordered as follows: 1. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale. 2. There shall be created in the National Military Establishment an advisory committee to be known as the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services, which shall be composed of seven members to be designated by the President. 3. The Committee is authorized on behalf of the President to examine into the rules, procedures and practices of the armed services in order to determine in what respect such rules, procedures and practices may be altered or improved with a view to carrying out the policy of this order. The Committee shall confer and advise with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Air Force, and shall make such recommendations to the President and to said Secretaries as in the judgment of the Committee will effectuate the policy hereof. 4. All executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government are authorized and directed to cooperate with the Committee in its work, and to furnish the Committee such information or the services of such persons as the Committee may require in the performance of its duties. 5. When requested by the Committee to do so, persons in the armed services or in any of the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall testify before the Committee and shall make available for the use of the Committee such documents and other information as the Committee may require. 6. The Committee shall continue to exist until such time as the President shall terminate its existence by Executive Order. HARRY S. TRUMAN The WHITE HOUSE, July 26, 1948. The President appointed the following to be members of the Committee Charles Fahy, Chairman, Alphonsus J. Donahue, Lester B. Granger, Charles Luckman, Dwight R. G. Palmer, John H. Sengstacke, William E. Stevenson 17 About Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces (1948) In 1940 the U.S. population was about 131 million, 12.6 million of which was African American, or about 10 percent of the total population. During World War II, the Army had become the nation's largest minority employer. Of the 2.5 million African Americans males who registered for the draft through December 31, 1945, more than one million were inducted into the armed forces. African Americans, who constituted approximately 11 per cent of all registrants liable for service, furnished approximately this proportion of the inductees in all branches of the service except the Marine Corps. Along with thousands of black women, these inductees served in all branches of service and in all Theaters of Operations during World War II. During World War II, President Roosevelt had responded to complaints about discrimination at home against African Americans by issuing Executive Order 8802 in June 1941, directing that blacks be accepted into job-training programs in defense plants, forbidding discrimination by defense contractors, and establishing a Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC). After the war, President Harry Truman, Roosevelt's successor, faced a multitude of problems and allowed Congress to terminate the FEPC. However, in December 1946, Truman appointed a distinguished panel to serve as the President's Commission on Civil Rights, which recommended "more adequate means and procedures for the protection of the civil rights of the people of the United States." When the commission issued its report, "To Secure These Rights," in October 1947, among its proposals were anti-lynching and anti-poll tax laws, a permanent FEPC, and strengthening the civil rights division of the Department of Justice. In February 1948 President Truman called on Congress to enact all of these recommendations. When Southern Senators immediately threatened a filibuster, Truman moved ahead on civil rights by using his executive powers. Among other things, Truman bolstered the civil rights division, appointed the first African American judge to the Federal bench, named several other African Americans to high-ranking administration positions, and most important, on July 26, 1948, he issued an executive order abolishing segregation in the armed forces and ordering full integration of all the services. Executive Order 9981 stated that "there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed forces without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin." The order also established an advisory committee to examine the rules, practices, and procedures of the armed services and recommend ways to make desegregation a reality. There was considerable resistance to the executive order from the military, but by the end of the Korean conflict, almost all the military was integrated. Answers to Quiz on Page 24 1. March 22, 1948 2. Utilization of Negro Manpower in the Postwar Army Policy 3. Jim Crow 4. The Army 5. A. Philip Randolph 6. Executive Order 9981 18 Report of the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services MR PRESIDENT: The President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services herewith reports to the President. Executive Order 9981 of July 26, 1948, states: "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin. This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency or morale." This order further authorized the Committee "to examine into the rules, procedures and practices of the armed services in order to determine in what respect such rules, procedures and practices may be altered or improved with a view to carrying out the policy of this order." The Committee appointed by the President has conducted such an inquiry and has made recommendations to the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretaries of the three services. It was the judgment of the Committee that these recommendations, when put into actual practice, would bring an end to inequality of treatment and opportunity. All of the Committee's recommendations have been approved and accepted by the President, the Secretary of Defense and the service Secretaries. They are now in effect. This submission, therefore, is a report of the work of the Committee and of the measures adopted by the services to carry out the President's policy. Chapter I contains the Committee's interpretation of its mission; an account of its method of work; and a summary of the progress which has been made. Chapters II, III, IV, and V present a more detailed description of the racial policies and practices in the services at the beginning of the Committee's inquiry; the Committee's estimate of those policies and practices as measured against the President's policy; the recommendations of the Committee and the reasons for them. It is the Committee's conviction that the present programs of the three services are designed to accomplish the objectives of the President. As the programs are carried out, there will be, within the reasonably near future, equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed forces with a consequent improvement in military efficiency. In submitting its report (to read the report, click here), the Committee desires to express its appreciation to the White House staff, the Department of Defense and the Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force and to all organizations and individuals that have facilitated the work of the Committee. Respectfully submitted, Lester B. Granger Dwight R. G. Palmer John H. Sengstacke William E. Stevenson Charles Fahy, Chairman 19 Draft of Proposed Directive for the Armed Forces for the Period of 1 July 1949 to 1 July 1950, c. March, 1949. Security Classified Records, Record Group 220: Records of the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services 20 21 22 Credits Photographs, chronology, and documents used with permission from the The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, one of twelve Presidential Libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. U.S. Govt. 16 May 2008. http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/desegregation/large/index.php?action=docs#194 8. Links for tracing your roots and learning about your ancestry: For Ancestry.com, click here. For RootsWebs Guide to Tracing Family Trees, click here. For Your Family Tree Traditions in Genealogy, click here. For African Ancestry, click here. For information about tracing your Irish Ancestry, click here. Quiz: 1. On what date did African-American leaders, including Bishop William Bell, meet with President Truman to urge him to insist on anti-segregation amendments in the legislation being considered in Congress that would reinstitute the draft? 2. What was the name of the report submitted in 1946 by the Gillem Board? 3. Fill in the blank. Committee Against ___________ In Military Service and Training 4. What branch of the Armed Forces in 1953 was the last to announce that 95% of African-American soldiers were serving in integrated units? 5. Who was the African-American leader who coordinated the effort to desegregate the Armed Forces? 6. Which Executive Order issued by President Truman established the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services? (answers on page 24) 23
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