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Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: September 3, 2020 at 10:01:09 AM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-War]: London on Bolzenius, 'Glory in Their Spirit: > How Four Black Women Took on the Army during World War II' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Sandra M. Bolzenius. Glory in Their Spirit: How Four Black Women > Took on the Army during World War II. Women, Gender, and Sexuality > in American History Series. Urbana University of Illinois Press, > 2018. Illustrations. 234 pp. $19.95 (paper), ISBN > 978-0-252-08333-4; $99.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-252-04171-6. > > Reviewed by Grace London (Auburn University) > Published on H-War (September, 2020) > Commissioned by Margaret Sankey > > While the Tuskegee airmen remain the most famous of African American > military personnel to serve in World War II, Sandra M. Bolzenius's > enlightening work _Glory in Their Spirit: How Four Black Women Took > on the Army during World War II _gives recognition to other Black > service members and their unique wartime experiences. Bolzenius > examines the experiences of Black servicewomen in the Women's Army > Corps (WAC) and recounts their struggles to fight racism both abroad > and on the home front by participating in strikes to protest > discriminatory military policies. Throughout World War II, many > African American members of the US Army participated in > demonstrations to protest its discriminatory policies, but Bolzenius > focuses on the most publicized of these strikes, which took place in > Fort Devens, Massachusetts. She uses the Fort Devens strike and > subsequent court martial as a case study through which to explore > issues of race, class, and gender as they pertained to the army's > so-called colorblind personnel policies. Bolzenius argues that > despite the army's denial of all discriminatory policies and > practices that it was clear through the WAC's treatment of Black Wacs > at Fort Devens that the army had in fact upheld racist and > patriarchal cultural practices. Because of this poor treatment by the > army, Bolzenius contends that the disillusioned Black Wacs of Fort > Devens felt compelled to strike and thereby act outside of army > protocol rather than continue to express their grievances to their > commanding officers. The Fort Devens strike was the result of the > army's segregationist practices rather than the efforts of > ill-intentioned malcontents. > > Bolzenius guides her audience through each stage of the Fort Devens > strike, starting with the formation of the WAC and ending with a > reflection on military protocol. The meticulous detail Bolzenius uses > to tell the story of the four Wacs court martialed because of the > strike, Privates Anna Morrison, Mary Green, Alice Young, and Johnnie > Murphy, makes this monograph a valuable and accessible addition to > several fields of history. In the introduction, the author weaves the > Fort Devens strike into the longer history of the Black freedom > struggle. By tying Black women's military service to their historical > participation in the Black female club movement of the late > nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Bolzenius demonstrates how > Black military service became a way to assert the rights and > privileges of citizenship. This work contributes new voices to the > long civil rights movement narrative, and Black servicewomen are > added to the ranks of activists who strove to eliminate > discrimination in the United States. > > Black activism in the military, however, often resulted in court > martials and dishonorable discharges. These sobering consequences did > not stop these four Black Wacs from seeking an end to the army's > discriminatory practices. Morrison, Green, Young, and Murphy had been > promised additional training after enlisting in the WAC, which they > never received. This lack of training meant that upon transfer to > Fort Devens and Lovell Hospital, they were assigned to orderly duty, > the most menial of tasks at the hospital. By comparison, the white > Wacs of Fort Devens held a variety of jobs in Lovell Hospital and > received the training necessary for their advancement in the WAC. > Because of their race and gender, the Black Wacs of Fort Devens had > been give the most unskilled of assignments. For months, the Black > Wacs shared their grievances with their commanding officers, > Lieutenants Sophie Gay and Tenola Stoney. Colonel Walter Creighton, > Lovell Hospital's commanding officer, and Lieutenant Victoria Lawson, > the white commanding officer of Fort Deven's WAC detachments, ignored > Gay and Stoney's warnings that the Black Wacs were becoming > increasingly unhappy with their jobs. Bolzenius credits Creighton and > Lawson's purposeful ignorance of the Black Wac's situation with > lowering their morale. Army policy, however, bore the brunt of the > blame for the strike as it upheld racist stereotypes of African > American women, depicting them as drudges fit only for such > unskilled, menial work. > > Though a slim volume, Bolzenius's monograph provides significant > insight. Her depiction of the Fort Devens strike as part of the long > civil rights movement is an important contribution though she does > well not to overstate this importance. The strike was not a > fundamental move toward integration in the military, but the > subsequent court martial did provide basis for the legal arguments > that would result in the famous 1954 _Brown v. Board of Education of > Topeka, Kansas _decision. Morrison, Green, Young, and Murphy's lawyer > argued that the Fort Devens strike occurred because of the > psychological harm it had inflicted on the defendants, and this same > claim of psychological harm would be used to dismantle segregation in > public schools. The Fort Devens strike did not have its intended > effect for the Black Wacs stationed there, but the strike's influence > was felt many years later. Accordingly, Bolzenius's conclusion > reflects on the price of segregation in American society, considering > how Americans across the color line felt segregation's sting > psychologically as well as physically. > > Citation: Grace London. Review of Bolzenius, Sandra M., _Glory in > Their Spirit: How Four Black Women Took on the Army during World War > II_. H-War, H-Net Reviews. September, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55100 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#1124): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/1124 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/76609091/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES<br />#1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.<br />#2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived.<br />#3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
