During the Pearl Harbor attack, a small boat rescues an African American seaman from the burning USS West Virginia (BB-48). This event underscores the opportunities opened for African Americans in the Navy and Marine Corps, despite initial limitations.
Small boat rescues seaman from U.S. Navy battleship USS West Virginia , which is burning in foreground. Pearl Harbor attack opened opportunities for African Americans in Navy and Marine Corps ‘ Publisher and my father, Wilbert “Bill” Tatum, before me.
WW II-era African Americans realized that when they entered the military, they weren’t the beneficiaries of all the rights and opportunities every other American automatically received. Nevertheless, they were determined to prove they were entitled to receive those benefits or pave the way for their descendants to receive them because America was their home as much as anyone’s.
December 7 will always be commemorated as a sad day in American history, but in a bit of irony, it opened opportunities for African Americans. They embodied the message of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois’s 1919 editorial: We return. We return from fighting. We return fighting. Make way for Democracy! We saved it in France, and by the Great Jehovah, we will save it in the United States of America or know the reason why.”
Paul L. Newman is an amateur historian specializing in African American history of the first half of the 20th century. He has created a mini-series docudrama that highlights the events in this essay.' Publisher and my father, Wilbert"Bill" Tatum, before me.
Pearl Harbor USS West Virginia African Americans Navy Marine Corps
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