WW2 Experience for Minorities WW2 Note Packet April 8, 2014

African Americans – In the Military Segregation of troops Assigned to non-combat units  service duties (supplies, maintenance) Several African American fighter & bomber groups Tuskegee Airmen Faced prejudice coming home “It mad a mockery of wartime goals to fight overseas against fascism only to come back to the same kind of discrimination and racism here in this country” By 1945, troop losses forced military to begin placing more African American troops into infantry, pilot, & officer positions The Tuskegee airmen were the first black servicemen to serve as military aviators in the U.S. armed forces, flying with distinction during World War II. The highly publicized successes of the Tuskegee Airmen helped pave the way for the eventual integration of the U.S. armed forces under President Harry Truman in 1948. US armed forces desegrated in 1948

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-history/videos/tuskegee-airman-luther-smith#

African Americans at Home Fair Employment Practices Committee Migrating from south to north Segregation  overcrowded urban ghettos What did WW2 provide African American a foundation for? In 1941, industries searched for millions of new workers to meet demands of the Lend-Lease Act program 1 out of 5 AA still remained jobless Gov’t agencies set up to help unemployed during depression only honored employer requests for “whites only” 1941 – executive order 8802 opening jobs and training programs in defense plants to all americans Fair Employment Practices Committee – to hear complains about job discrimination in defense industries and gov’t, committee had no real power 1940s more than 2 million AA migrated to north

Japanese Americans – Immigration to the US Immigration began in early 1900s Mainly settled on West Coast Nisei – American citizens of Japanese decent (2nd generation)

Japanese Americans – Wartime Relocation Authority Japanese Americans forced into interment camps Fear from Pearl Harbor attack WRA Camps functioned like communities More than 100,000 people relocated During the spring and summer of 1942, the United States Government carried out, in remarkably short time and without serious incident, one of the largest controlled migrations in history. This was the movement of 110,000 people of Japanese descent from their homes in an area bordering the Pacific coast into 10 wartime communities constructed in remote areas between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Mississippi River. The relocation centers, however, are NOT and never were intended to be internment camps or places of confinement. They were established for two primary purposes: (1) To provide communities where evacuees might live and contribute, through work, to their own support pending their gradual reabsorption into private employment and normal American life, and (2) to serve as wartime homes for those evacuees who might be unable or unfit to relocate in ordinary American communities.   These camps, some of which housed approximately 8,000 people, functioned as communities. The government provided medical care, schools, and food, and adults often held camp jobs — in food service, agriculture, medical clinics, as teachers, and other jobs required for daily life.

Japanese Americans – Nisei Soldiers Children of Japanese immigrants who volunteered to fight in WW2 The 442nd regimental combat team, made up of entirely japanese americans won more medals for bravery than any other unit of its size in the war

Korematsu v. United States (1944) upheld the forced evacuation as a reasonable wartime measure No acts of Japanese-American sabotage/treason/espionage were ever identified 50 yrs. After WW2, US gov’t admitted WRA camps were unjust 1988 – congress voted to pay $20,000 to each of the approximately 60,000 surviving Americans who had been interned