Segregation as a component of african-american military servants daily situation in the World War II (period 1941–1943)

Abstract

The purpose. The article aims to investigate the impact of segregation on the main aspects of the everyday life of an African-American soldier in the conditions of the Second World War.

Scientific novelty. The author focuses on the soldiers of the main contingent of the US armed forces, and the chosen chronological period of 1941–1943 is due to the stronger manifestations of racism in the army, while starting from 1944, African-Americans began to be integrated into interracial military units. In the first place the study of the «everyday life of war» helps to reveal the military conflict not only through the prism of high politics and the course of hostilities, but also through the living conditions and feelings of its main actors, who die at the front and experience all the horrors of war. The analysis of everyday life was carried out primarily by studying the letters of African-American servicemen, in which the conditions in which they found themselves and the internal experiences of the soldiers were noted.

Conclusions. It was determined that with the entry of the USA into the Second World War, there was a repetition of the events of the First World War, when African-Americans did not want to be recruited into the ranks of the army or were recruited mostly to perform auxiliary and most unpleasant jobs, reducing their status to service personnel. At the same time, African-Americans are segregated, the manifestations of which can be seen not only in the treatment of them by the rest of the military, but also in terms of material support, food, living conditions, sanitary and hygienic assistance, etc. The author concludes that segregation became the main measure of the daily life of African-American servicemen during Second World War. For them, everyday life was a kind of joint challenge, which should be overcome by joint efforts.