1939-1945+World+War+II

== = = = = =Introduction to World War II= toc =The Master Narrative=
 * Who: || Germany, Italy, Japan ; Great Britain, France, China, US, Soviet Union ||
 * When: || Sept. 1,1939 - Sept. 2, 1945 ||
 * Where: || Poland, Pacific Ocean, Across Asia ||
 * Why: || The reason why World War II happened was because of nationalistic tensions, unresolved issues, and resentments resulting from World War I. It was also from the interwar period in Europe and the greatly effects of the Great Depression in the 1930s. ||

What is it for this particular war?
That people make up different things of what happened in the war who died and who got honored for what

What does it say about America?
That nothing mattered at the time but the war and when it was over things went back to being worse

What does it say about African-Americans?
That it was harder on them to be black and in the war because everytime a war was over things got worse for them in America for the blacks including racism and discrimination and lynshing etc.

Who/What is being fought for ?
Participants were Germany, Italy and Japan were on one side, with British Commonwealth, the Soviet Union and the United States on the other. The Allies include Britain and France from Sept 1939. The invaded states of Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway and Greece joined the Allies. USSR joined the Allies on June 22, 1941. Mexico sent an airforce unit to the Far East. Brazil sent troops to Europe. The AXIS powers of Germany, Italy (changed sides and split in half 1943) Hungary, Romania Bulgaria, Finland (changed sides 1945) Spain was meant to be neutral but they helped Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy and sent troops to fight along side the Germans in Russia. Portugal was neutral but helped the Allies by letting them use air and naval bases. Ireland were neutral publicly but privately supported the Allies. Sweden and Switzerland were neutral but traded with Germany. All the states of South America helped the allies mostly under American persuasion. In Asia, Thailand supported Japan, everybody else supported the Allies. Some Indian people supported Japan, hoping that they would oust the British from India.

=The Subaltern Narrative=

What challenges were African Americans really facing?
Most African Americans were mess attendant. African American didnt not serve in the same unit, nor did African American officers command white troops.

What were African Americans really doing?
They were dealing with the reality of racism in the society

What is the story of black women during this war?
Black women during WWII were involved in helping out. The army had over 500 black nurses. On Ja nuary 25, 1945, the Navy dropped its color ban, which allowed black women to join forces with them. Black women also enlisted in the WAAC, Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. The WAAC converted into the WAC, Women's Army Corps, and then into the WAVES, Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergencies Services, and lastly into the Coast Guard SPARS. When the WAAC fist started in Iowa, there were 400 white women and 40 black women. The recruitment of black women had to be ten percent of the WAAC, which matched the proportional black national population. In the navy, there were segregated units, mess hall, quarters, and seperated training. 6,520 black women served in total in the WAAC. The women of America hit a huge milestone once October of 1944 came around. On October 19th, the WAVES dropped its strict rule of no African-American women allowed to serve with them. Soon after, hundreds of women started to sign up for recruitment. On December 22, 1944, the first two black WAVES officers who were African American women, were sworn into the Navy. Their names are Harriet Ida Pikens and Frances Wills. They inspired over 500 women to join the Navy. By the end of the war, out of the 80,000 WAVES recruits in the war, 752 of them were African American.

What is ironic about this war as it concerns African American soldiers fighting for the United States?

 * WWII gave blacks the chance to defeat the struggle against discrimination so that African Americans being in the war would help befriend the whites
 * America was fighting against discrimination but was condoning to it at the same time [[image:forhistory/WWII.png]]

=Timeline of Important Events= =Concluding Thoughts=
 * September of 1939 - Germany invades Poland and Japan is at war with China
 * September 17, 1939- Soviet Union invaded Poland
 * June 10, 1940- Italy joins war
 * June 21,1940- Italy invades France
 * December 7, 1941- US gets involved after attack on Pearl Harbor
 * June of 1942- Marine Corps began allowing black recruits
 * June 1942- American navy ships win Battle of Midway ; the turning point of the war fought on Pacific Ocean
 * Mid August of 1943- Allied gains control of Sicily
 * June 6, 1944- (D-Day) General Eisenhower leads Allied troops in an attack on France
 * April 30,1945- Hitler died
 * May 7, 1945- Germany surrendered to Allies
 * May 9, 1945- Germany falls down to Soviet soldiers
 * August 6 and 9,1945- America drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
 * August of 1945- Japan drops out of war after atomic bombs are dropped
 * September 2, 1945- Japan formally surrenders ; end of World War II
 * The United States Army was the first of the military services to open its dooor to black women.
 * "It was rough, but we were dedicated . We were fighting for a greater cause, for our people. We had to defeat them and we had top prove that blacks would fight. If we failed, the whole black race would fail. We were fighting for the flag and for our rights." (Sergeant James Tillman)
 * Although Blacks fought and were dedicated to fighting in WWII to prove the white men wrong, after the war they were treated worst when they came home. An incident where a World War II Veteran that some of the townspeople had accused of being "uppity" was dragged from a car by a white mob, beaten and then taken into the woods and shot to death by a firing squad. (C, Faeflen)
 * African Americans dedicated their all to fight in the war and to stand out against the racism and discrimination to prove that African Americans were capable of doing anything especially fighting in the war (D. Fletcher)
 * Blacks were getting recruited to the army forces to serve because whites felt like they would be stronger to fight with (D. Fletcher)
 * The structure with fighting in the war allowed blacks to at least try to befriend the whites (D. Fletcher)
 * When recruitment for the Army began in the beginning of the war, although thousands of black males went out, slim to none of them got a chance
 * Although President Truman signed Executive Order 9981, he did nothing to put an end to segregation in the US.
 * Black soldiers were often sent off to service units to work as cargo handlers and cooks, which were supervised by white officers. (A, Flim)