"Trouble Makers"

"Our" Four Freedoms

 

WWII was a particularly difficult time for African-Americans at home and in the military...resentment over millions of African-Americans moving north, white workers enraged by FDR's Executive Order 8802, race riots and murder in several factory towns, reports of "military lynchings", the hypocrisy of the government, etc. made it hard to believe that America truly believed in FDR's Four Freedoms!

The "Jim Crow" Military was completely segregated...The Marines did not accept African-Americans, The Navy allowed African-Americans to do only custodial duties (e.g. Dorie Miller) and The Army was required to accept a 10% quota of its forces as African-American. This blatant discrimination was justified by a 1925 Army War College "Study" called The Ely Report. In its "scientific study" of African-American cranial cavities it summarized:

 “The Negro does not perform his share of civil duties in time of peace. He has no leaders in industrial or commercial life. He takes no part in government. Compared to the white man he is admittedly of inferior mentality. He is inherently weak in character.”

 

 

Chronology of The 364th Regiment
1941: The 367th Negro Infantry Regiment (later to become the 364th) – was one of the earliest African-American combat units. It was activated in March of 1941 at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. In December, a soldier was accused of assaulting a white woman...a riot ensued. Many were killed and wounded in the so-called "Lee Street Riots".

1942: In March, 1,000 soldiers were shipped off for overseas deployment and the remaining men were re-designated as the 364th Negro Infantry Regiment and moved to Arizona. A letter addressed to Pennsylvania Sen. Joseph Guffey described the hostile racial environment:

“If there is no change here, all of us from Pennsylvania have decided to go AWOL rather than be murdered in uniforms of the United States Army. Your delay, sir, can be the cause of a disgraceful consequence.”

In November, a memo to the Secretary of War read...

“Violent and abusive treatment of Negro military personnel by civilian public authorities in the South...this continuing wave of violence may lead to rioting at any time and certainly it is raising havoc with the spirit of Negro soldiers, many of whom have reached the stage that they would rather fight their domestic enemies than the foreign foe.”

In what is usually referred to as the "Phoenix Thanksgiving Massacre", a soldier of the 364th became involved in a dispute with a woman at a restaurant in Phoenix...Military Police were called in and arrested the soldier. Another group of soldiers protested the arrest and shots were fired by the MPs to disperse the crowd...in the ensuing melee at least 14 soldiers, police, and civilians were killed or wounded.

Army intelligence reports labeled the 364th as "troublemakers" because they were advocates of a movement known as the "Double V" campaign...some had even gone so far as to carve or burn the "Double V" insignia on their chests.

1943: On May 26, the 364th was transferred to Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi (to teach them a lesson?) in Centreville. They arrived demanding equal treatment, pledging to "clean up" the area, and challenge Jim Crow at every opportunity...but, this was Mississippi.

An Army report stated...

 “To a majority it was a trip into a virtually unknown and foreign land where a man of color often had to fear for his life...before the 364th came in, there were several unsolved murders of Negro soldiers. Their bodies were found in the fields...all the white farmers and civilians are armed at all times and seem to want a pitched battle with Negro soldiers...men have been constantly molested and beaten by white MPs...commanders were threatened to end the racial violence or lose their jobs.”

Members of the 364th wrote letters...

"We are catching hell here...two of our men have been killed and we have only been in this camp for six days. Something worse is going to happen soon."

A white soldier wrote...

"There have been about 20 or 25 Negroes hurt and killed...they have been 5 or ten shot right through the head … and we are going to give them hell when they come around us."

On May 30, Private William Walker got into a fight (a posse of heavily armed men attempted to arrest him because of a missing button on his uniform!) with white MPs near the entrance to the base. At the conclusion of the fight, the MP issued an order to the local sheriff: "shoot this N-word." And he did.

The Army tried to cover this up by claiming Walker had gone AWOL on May 15th...he hadn't. Members of the 364th broke into base storerooms, took rifles and ammunition, and sought revenge...between May 30th and June 25th, over 3,000 people participated in race riots and at least 25 African-American soldiers were killed.

The largest newspaper in the region, The McComb Daily Enterprise, reported:

“Many wild rumors floated about … rumors of men being killed by the scores and of women being molested."

What happened next has been part of historical debate and speculation for the last 50+ years...

The Von Dorn Massacre Conspiracy Theory

Some (local witnesses/ NAACP/ authors) have alleged that the Army panicked and decided on a violent end to the race riots. Military Police and a local "riot squad" aka the KKK were called in...they lined up over 1200 members of the 364th and opened fire with automatic weapons. Their bodies were buried in trenches that are now covered by a lake and their relatives notified that they had been "killed in combat".

What exactly happened that summer is still a mystery...but, in December the 3,000 remaining men were transferred to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Military records show that between 800 and 1,000 (one per day) of the 3,000 men "left" the personnel rosters before the war ended...a massive cover-up?