The Double V

November 19, 2012
Long before the Little Rock Nine, the United States military established itself as an example of a functioning integrated society for the rest of the nation. James (Root and Branch), a Washington, D.C., lawyer, shows that the push to desegregate the military dates back to the Revolutionary War, but it wasn’t until after WWI, during a victory celebration in Paris, that the struggle reached its most sobering nadir: “he United States was the only Allied nation to forbid its black soldiers from marching in the parade.” That disappointing experience prompted African-American leaders in WWII to pursue the “double V”: victory abroad against external enemies and victory at home against prejudice. The unlikely hero of the story is President Truman—unlike FDR, he was willing to risk his political career to back the cause of African-American rights, eventually ordering the desegregation of the armed forces in 1948. Truman’s decree set the precedent for the civil rights movement and remains a lynchpin event in the struggle for equal rights of all kinds; as long as inequality persists, this tale of persistence, sacrifice, and triumph will continue to inspire. Agent: Matthew Carnicelli, Carnicelli Literary Management.

November 15, 2012
An expansive history of African-Americans in the U.S. military, fighting for fair treatment as they risked their lives at war. James (Root and Branch: Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and the Struggle to End Segregation, 2010) is a Washington, D.C., lawyer with a deep family military tradition. His grandfather, Cornelius James Sr., served in a racially segregated U.S. Army during World War II, hoping that his sons might serve in a less prejudiced environment. One son became an Army colonel, another became an Army major and a third became a Navy commander. In clear but often flat prose, the author skillfully examines how the Caucasian-dominated military, with a few notable exceptions in the top ranks, treated African-American members as second-class citizens. James shows convincingly that the interplay of African-American status in the military and in civilian life affected one another, for better and for worse. He opens the book with a scene from World War I, then harks back as far as the Revolutionary War to bring the mostly upsetting saga forward. The most important individual of the book, in terms of positive change, is President Harry Truman. Although not by inclination a civil rights activist, on July 26, 1949, Truman issued Executive Order 9981, which commanded desegregation within all branches of the armed forces. Positive change proceeded slowly after that. Though it appeared Truman would lose the 1948 presidential election, he won, and after the election, he supported the executive order in vigorous, concrete ways. An inspiring story spanning parts of five centuries as African-Americans pushed back against the powers that be to achieve more-or-less equal treatment inside the military.

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November 1, 2012

African Americans have served in the military since the Revolutionary War, but it took Harry Truman's Executive Order 9981--after 150 years of tough moral and legal battles--to desegregate all branches of the military. Lawyer Rawn can provide a rigorous legal perspective.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2013

Washington, DC, attorney Rawn (Root and Branch: Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and the Struggle To End Segregation) focuses on the 20th-century legal and political struggle by African Americans in the military, showing how the search for equal treatment paralleled, and often led, a larger fight for freedom. Military branches differed by culture and practice, e.g., the post-Civil War navy allowed blacks only as support stewards and cooks (the marines totally excluded them until near the end of World War II) while the army stipulated segregated units. It was for organizational efficiency more than moral suasion that changes came during the war. After James Forrestal became secretary of the navy in 1944, a pilot program integrated ships and black women entered the WAVES. Rawn emphasizes that blacks were agents of change-a threatened march on Washington in 1941 resulted in a ban on discrimination in the defense industry; another proposed demonstration encouraged President Truman to outlaw racially prejudicial practices in the services in July 1948. VERDICT An engaging book that compares with Jon E. Taylor's Freedom to Serve: Truman, Civil Rights, and Executive Order 9981, while Kimberley L. Phillips's War?: What Good Is It For?; Black Freedom Struggles and the U.S. Military from World War II to Iraq brings the subject to the present. Replete with biographical sketches, this should appeal to general readers.--Frederick J. Augustyn Jr., Lib. of Congress, Washington, DC

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.