Taunya Lovell Banks
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496810458
- eISBN:
- 9781496810496
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496810458.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
This chapter presents a comparative history of minority communities, in this case the impact of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (better known as the GI Bill of Rights). It addresses the ...
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This chapter presents a comparative history of minority communities, in this case the impact of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (better known as the GI Bill of Rights). It addresses the reasons why Japanese American World War II veterans were able to make greater use of the benefits offered by the law to broker their group's postwar social advancement, while black veterans were restricted in their enjoyment of its advantages. In addition to more potent discrimination against blacks in areas such as housing, one salient distinction between the groups that the chapter points to is their differing educational preparation, which led to comparatively greater use by Japanese Americans of the college benefits available under the bill.Less
This chapter presents a comparative history of minority communities, in this case the impact of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (better known as the GI Bill of Rights). It addresses the reasons why Japanese American World War II veterans were able to make greater use of the benefits offered by the law to broker their group's postwar social advancement, while black veterans were restricted in their enjoyment of its advantages. In addition to more potent discrimination against blacks in areas such as housing, one salient distinction between the groups that the chapter points to is their differing educational preparation, which led to comparatively greater use by Japanese Americans of the college benefits available under the bill.
Jennifer D. Keene
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813042077
- eISBN:
- 9780813043456
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813042077.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
After World War I, struggles over black veterans’ benefits served as a milestone in the broader civil rights movement, turning veterans’ personal readjustment to civilian life into a collective ...
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After World War I, struggles over black veterans’ benefits served as a milestone in the broader civil rights movement, turning veterans’ personal readjustment to civilian life into a collective racial struggle for social justice. By forcing the federal government to offer (limited) protection of black veterans’ economic and medical rights, the struggle over veterans’ benefits served as the opening gambit of a civil rights strategy that would gain momentum throughout the twentieth century as the movement focused on enlisting the federal government as an ally, rather than viewing it as a foe, in dismantling Jim Crow. Every disabled black veteran who secured hospitalization or compensation was celebrated for achieving a minor victory in the overall campaign for equal rights, helping these men avoid feeling emasculated by their dependence on government aid. The civil rights movement thus inadvertently helped ensure that one of the major goals of federal veteran policy, the quick reabsorption of veterans into civilian and community life, was achieved.Less
After World War I, struggles over black veterans’ benefits served as a milestone in the broader civil rights movement, turning veterans’ personal readjustment to civilian life into a collective racial struggle for social justice. By forcing the federal government to offer (limited) protection of black veterans’ economic and medical rights, the struggle over veterans’ benefits served as the opening gambit of a civil rights strategy that would gain momentum throughout the twentieth century as the movement focused on enlisting the federal government as an ally, rather than viewing it as a foe, in dismantling Jim Crow. Every disabled black veteran who secured hospitalization or compensation was celebrated for achieving a minor victory in the overall campaign for equal rights, helping these men avoid feeling emasculated by their dependence on government aid. The civil rights movement thus inadvertently helped ensure that one of the major goals of federal veteran policy, the quick reabsorption of veterans into civilian and community life, was achieved.
Paul R. D. Lawrie
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781479857326
- eISBN:
- 9781479864959
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479857326.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
Chapter Four examines how federal efforts to rehabilitate disabled African American veterans led to new forms of racial knowledge and racial labor control in postwar America. A key agent in this ...
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Chapter Four examines how federal efforts to rehabilitate disabled African American veterans led to new forms of racial knowledge and racial labor control in postwar America. A key agent in this process was the Federal Board of Vocational Education (FBVE), which was charged with rehabilitating the citizen-solider into the citizen-worker. Through the stages of diagnosis/benefits, training, job placement and hospitalization, FBVE officials struggled to determine whether they could, or even should, mend broken black bodies often seen as defective by definition, often accusing black veterans of trying to “unjustly profit from their innate inferiority.” Black veterans rejected these characterizations, arguing for their right to rehabilitation as soldiers, citizens, workers and men. The FBVE’s efforts to salvage black veterans for work in the postwar labor force revealed a key attempt to frame social policy along biological lines, and to rationalize racial labor hierarchies as a constituent part of the republican body politic.Less
Chapter Four examines how federal efforts to rehabilitate disabled African American veterans led to new forms of racial knowledge and racial labor control in postwar America. A key agent in this process was the Federal Board of Vocational Education (FBVE), which was charged with rehabilitating the citizen-solider into the citizen-worker. Through the stages of diagnosis/benefits, training, job placement and hospitalization, FBVE officials struggled to determine whether they could, or even should, mend broken black bodies often seen as defective by definition, often accusing black veterans of trying to “unjustly profit from their innate inferiority.” Black veterans rejected these characterizations, arguing for their right to rehabilitation as soldiers, citizens, workers and men. The FBVE’s efforts to salvage black veterans for work in the postwar labor force revealed a key attempt to frame social policy along biological lines, and to rationalize racial labor hierarchies as a constituent part of the republican body politic.
Keith L. Camacho
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824835460
- eISBN:
- 9780824868512
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824835460.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Pacific Studies
This chapter examines the historical development of Liberation Day in the Northern Mariana Islands, along with the various commemorations created by Americans and Japanese in a place dubbed “the land ...
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This chapter examines the historical development of Liberation Day in the Northern Mariana Islands, along with the various commemorations created by Americans and Japanese in a place dubbed “the land without heroes.” Liberation Day, celebrates not the invasion of American military forces on June 15, 1944, but the release of civilians from Camp Susupe, Saipan, where Chamorro and Refaluwasch families lived under the rules of the American military government. Unlike celebrations of American liberation in Guam, most reminders of the war in the Northern Mariana Islands invoke feelings of apathy and loss. This chapter first recounts the “liberation” of Camp Susupe before considering how several Chamorros from Saipan sought to impart a sense of cohesiveness and certainty in terms of indigenous perceptions of war, memory, and history. It also discusses attempts to express Chamorro loyalty to America, the Chamorros' cold reception of some American veterans in the Northern Mariana Islands, and the making of the American Memorial Park in Garapan.Less
This chapter examines the historical development of Liberation Day in the Northern Mariana Islands, along with the various commemorations created by Americans and Japanese in a place dubbed “the land without heroes.” Liberation Day, celebrates not the invasion of American military forces on June 15, 1944, but the release of civilians from Camp Susupe, Saipan, where Chamorro and Refaluwasch families lived under the rules of the American military government. Unlike celebrations of American liberation in Guam, most reminders of the war in the Northern Mariana Islands invoke feelings of apathy and loss. This chapter first recounts the “liberation” of Camp Susupe before considering how several Chamorros from Saipan sought to impart a sense of cohesiveness and certainty in terms of indigenous perceptions of war, memory, and history. It also discusses attempts to express Chamorro loyalty to America, the Chamorros' cold reception of some American veterans in the Northern Mariana Islands, and the making of the American Memorial Park in Garapan.
Barbara A. Gannon
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807834527
- eISBN:
- 9781469603124
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807877708_gannon.5
- Subject:
- History, American History: Civil War
This chapter focuses on the GAR and defines it as an interracial social organization—as thought by its members both black and white. Since black and white soldiers had served together in the Civil ...
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This chapter focuses on the GAR and defines it as an interracial social organization—as thought by its members both black and white. Since black and white soldiers had served together in the Civil War, African American veterans joined this organization, and they were able to do so because most white veterans believed that their organization should include these men. African Americans participated in the political life of the organization at the state level. They spoke at annual meetings about matters profound and mundane and held elective office. No explanation is needed for why white veterans, who came of age in a society that accepted race-based slavery, sometimes rejected black veterans. This chapter, therefore, examines why most white veterans accepted black soldiers as their political equals, a status that no other organization granted black Americans in this era.Less
This chapter focuses on the GAR and defines it as an interracial social organization—as thought by its members both black and white. Since black and white soldiers had served together in the Civil War, African American veterans joined this organization, and they were able to do so because most white veterans believed that their organization should include these men. African Americans participated in the political life of the organization at the state level. They spoke at annual meetings about matters profound and mundane and held elective office. No explanation is needed for why white veterans, who came of age in a society that accepted race-based slavery, sometimes rejected black veterans. This chapter, therefore, examines why most white veterans accepted black soldiers as their political equals, a status that no other organization granted black Americans in this era.
Barbara A. Gannon
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807834527
- eISBN:
- 9781469603124
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807877708_gannon.9
- Subject:
- History, American History: Civil War
This chapter describes how African American veterans' associations, their auxiliaries, their sons and daughters, and other elements of the African American GAR circle fought the efforts of those who ...
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This chapter describes how African American veterans' associations, their auxiliaries, their sons and daughters, and other elements of the African American GAR circle fought the efforts of those who would forget slavery and the black military experience in the Civil War. Black veterans and their associates used their membership in the GAR to contest Civil War Memory on the local, state, and national stages. Locally, the African American GAR circle participated in a number of activities that commemorated various aspects of the black freedom struggle, such as Emancipation Day celebrations and Fifteenth Amendment commemorations. Nationally, African American posts took part in patriotic celebrations such as Fourth of July observances, centennial celebrations, and integrated parades at annual GAR meetings.Less
This chapter describes how African American veterans' associations, their auxiliaries, their sons and daughters, and other elements of the African American GAR circle fought the efforts of those who would forget slavery and the black military experience in the Civil War. Black veterans and their associates used their membership in the GAR to contest Civil War Memory on the local, state, and national stages. Locally, the African American GAR circle participated in a number of activities that commemorated various aspects of the black freedom struggle, such as Emancipation Day celebrations and Fifteenth Amendment commemorations. Nationally, African American posts took part in patriotic celebrations such as Fourth of July observances, centennial celebrations, and integrated parades at annual GAR meetings.
Barbara A. Gannon
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807834527
- eISBN:
- 9781469603124
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807877708_gannon
- Subject:
- History, American History: Civil War
In the years after the Civil War, black and white Union soldiers who survived the horrific struggle joined the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)—the Union army's largest veterans' organization. This ...
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In the years after the Civil War, black and white Union soldiers who survived the horrific struggle joined the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)—the Union army's largest veterans' organization. This study chronicles black and white veterans' efforts to create and sustain the nation's first interracial organization. According to the conventional view, the freedoms and interests of African American veterans were not defended by white Union veterans after the war, despite the shared tradition of sacrifice among both black and white soldiers. This book, however, challenges this scholarship, arguing that although black veterans still suffered under the contemporary racial mores, the GAR honored its black members in many instances and ascribed them a greater equality than previous studies have shown. Using evidence of integrated posts and veterans' thoughts on their comradeship and the cause, the book reveals that white veterans embraced black veterans because their membership in the GAR demonstrated that their wartime suffering created a transcendent bond—comradeship—which overcame even the most pernicious social barrier: race-based separation. By upholding a more inclusive memory of a war fought for liberty as well as union, the GAR's “Won Cause” challenged the Lost Cause version of Civil War memory.Less
In the years after the Civil War, black and white Union soldiers who survived the horrific struggle joined the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)—the Union army's largest veterans' organization. This study chronicles black and white veterans' efforts to create and sustain the nation's first interracial organization. According to the conventional view, the freedoms and interests of African American veterans were not defended by white Union veterans after the war, despite the shared tradition of sacrifice among both black and white soldiers. This book, however, challenges this scholarship, arguing that although black veterans still suffered under the contemporary racial mores, the GAR honored its black members in many instances and ascribed them a greater equality than previous studies have shown. Using evidence of integrated posts and veterans' thoughts on their comradeship and the cause, the book reveals that white veterans embraced black veterans because their membership in the GAR demonstrated that their wartime suffering created a transcendent bond—comradeship—which overcame even the most pernicious social barrier: race-based separation. By upholding a more inclusive memory of a war fought for liberty as well as union, the GAR's “Won Cause” challenged the Lost Cause version of Civil War memory.
Todd Decker
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520282322
- eISBN:
- 9780520966543
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520282322.003.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The introduction lays out the structure of Hymns for the Fallen in broad strokes, noting the chronological scope of the study (35 war films made after the close of the Vietnam War), the subgenre ...
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The introduction lays out the structure of Hymns for the Fallen in broad strokes, noting the chronological scope of the study (35 war films made after the close of the Vietnam War), the subgenre (prestige combat films) and the book’s larger approach to film sound and film music. The three elements of the soundtrack—dialogue, sound effects, and music—and their relationship analytically within the book are also introduced. The book’s larger analogy between serious war films and war memorials, such as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, is drawn by comparison of scenes from Hamburger Hill (1987) and Saving Private Ryan (1998). The formative impact of the Vietnam War on Hollywood combat film production is also noted. The figures of the American soldier and veteran are presented as central both to combat film narratives and to the target audiences for these films.Less
The introduction lays out the structure of Hymns for the Fallen in broad strokes, noting the chronological scope of the study (35 war films made after the close of the Vietnam War), the subgenre (prestige combat films) and the book’s larger approach to film sound and film music. The three elements of the soundtrack—dialogue, sound effects, and music—and their relationship analytically within the book are also introduced. The book’s larger analogy between serious war films and war memorials, such as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, is drawn by comparison of scenes from Hamburger Hill (1987) and Saving Private Ryan (1998). The formative impact of the Vietnam War on Hollywood combat film production is also noted. The figures of the American soldier and veteran are presented as central both to combat film narratives and to the target audiences for these films.
Lauren Rebecca Sklaroff
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807833124
- eISBN:
- 9781469604619
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807899243_sklaroff.11
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter describes President Harry Truman's outrage toward the prevalence of racial violence and discrimination in America. After discovering that African American veterans had been murdered in ...
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This chapter describes President Harry Truman's outrage toward the prevalence of racial violence and discrimination in America. After discovering that African American veterans had been murdered in several southern states, he declared, “I can't approve of such goings on and . . . I am going to try to remedy it and if that ends up in my failure to be reelected, that failure will be in a good cause.” This statement reveals a larger executive commitment to civil rights than Franklin Roosevelt was ever willing to advocate. In creating a Presidential Commission on Civil Rights and issuing his 1948 executive order to ensure “equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services, without regard to race,” Truman demonstrated an unprecedented presidential interest in the rights of African Americans.Less
This chapter describes President Harry Truman's outrage toward the prevalence of racial violence and discrimination in America. After discovering that African American veterans had been murdered in several southern states, he declared, “I can't approve of such goings on and . . . I am going to try to remedy it and if that ends up in my failure to be reelected, that failure will be in a good cause.” This statement reveals a larger executive commitment to civil rights than Franklin Roosevelt was ever willing to advocate. In creating a Presidential Commission on Civil Rights and issuing his 1948 executive order to ensure “equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services, without regard to race,” Truman demonstrated an unprecedented presidential interest in the rights of African Americans.
