Letters of war

There is extensive correspondence, between the UK and the US, where key people from the Government expressed concern about the African-American troops in the war, questioning if they would fight adequately and perform at the same level as the White ones.

Enquiries were made to White troops, to learn what they thought about the African-American performance, as we can see in these letters, collected from Fold3, US, WWII European Theatre Army Records, 1941-1946.

Due to the fact that many Black people had the opportunity to see that in other parts of the world they could be treated like ‘people’, that they could be more than what they were allowed to be ‘at home’, the following generations were taught to fight for their freedom and for their place in society.

This was what the American Government feared, which is also documented in secret folders, now available to the public.