So let me remind you of how the festival works. We are going to happen author speak now for 30 minutes, followed by a ten minute q a, and then i walk the author out to the front of the Visitors Center to sign books, and you can purchase her book and a new deal bookstore and then meet the author and discuss the book even more. So our next author today is sandra bolzenius. She is a teacher and a story. For two decades she lived abroad first as a soldier in the United States army serving in germany and later as a teacher in International Schools in europe, africa and asia. She earned her doctorate in history at Ohio State University where our focus on gender, africanamerican history, gender and African American history link to the publication of a book glory in their spirit how four black women took on the army during world war ii. She is active in the National Grassroots movement moved to amend. For occupation, travels state of the net is reflector interest in the dynamics of gender, race, class, and public policies. Lets welcome our author. [applause] hello, everybody. Ready for a story . I first would like to thank the Roosevelt Library and the National Archives for this opportunity to share the experiences of the black pioneers of the womens army corps. Im especially pleased to be able to acknowledge here at hyde park yet another of Eleanor Roosevelt achievements and contributions to this nation. This is not particularly well known. The first lady was a champion of the womens army corps, or wac as ill be using the acronym the afternoon. Even less known was her interest in the success of africanamerican wacs. Her husbands contributions to this end were less personally directed to these women yet immensely important. In 1940 president Franklin Delano roosevelt signed off on the memorandum detailing the War Departments policy of equal treatment of military personnel. Regardless of race. Upon this opposite of the black two years later, this policy carried over to the new female personnel. Thereby providing a platform for black wacs who are serving in a segregated military after all to assert the rights for equal treatment. Franklin, you have no idea what you started. Eleanor, i think you did. Can you all hear me . Is are a lot of feedback or anything . So glory in their spirit tells a story of one of the most wellpublicized Court Marshals of the war, the 1945 black wacs strike in massachusetts. For years i mentioned this project, the most common response i got was, i didnt in a in the black women were in the military during world war ii. Frankly, im not sure that i did either. At least not before embarking on this project. The fascination of americans, including this one, with the groundbreaking achievements of women as long fail to recognize that women often translate to white women. This was certainly how americans intrepid the term in the 1940s when the nations military services plunged into global war, turn to women to help alleviate the severe personnel shortages. Following the armies lead, the navy, marines, coast guard and Army Air Corps created her own womens forces. So none of these initially accepted black wacs or black recruits. Only the wac did, compromise i argue that the War Department offered civil rights leaders whose demand, demand for integration of the armed forces had firmly rejected. This afternoon i will introduce the back strike in a to form as a do in the book. The characters and plot provide the context to explore Army Personnel policies and how they led to the strike, courtmartial and Public Interest in the case. And at the time it was a sensational trial. I will conclude brief thoughts on why the strike is a little known today. I promised you a story. Which ill begin in 1944 wendy for women at the center of the strike and courtmartial enlisted. Alis young was a middleclass washington, d. C. Resident with a wellpaid government job. Because she also had some training as a nurse, recruiters a shorter that the army needed her as a medical technician. Johnnie murphy, northerner, hd clerical skills, no job, and like soldiers since time immemorial, and appetite for adventure. Trapped in cleaning jobs, Anna Morrison and mary green saw this as an escape from domestic service. All women would have been familiar with the lax recruiting campaign. They were intensive and prolific, and they were pleading with women, pleading with them to do your part, join the wacs now. Theres an urgency to this. They also wouldve noticed that these calls to duty featured white women exclusively. Nevertheless, they saw the wac as an extraordinary opportunity. Young, murphy, morrison and green were among the 6500 black women of a total of 140,000 wacs, who enlisted help the war effort during the war. They want to help the war effort, demonstrate their patriotism and skills learned in the army advance their postwar employment prospects here how then did these women eager to do their part land as defendants in a courtmartial . The subtitle of the book offers a concise response. Young, murphy, morrison and green at challenge the army. Well go into more detail today though. [inaudible] it also makes for a little place for the cup. These women had enlisted to fill specialist job such as medical technicians, clerical workers, drivers, or any of the hundreds of other army trained skills wac advertise. Instead at fort devens white blacks perform these types of assignments at one of the posts hospitals while black wacs cleaned at another. The relegation of the latter to labor was, and across the country. Consequently, so was the resistance of these women to discriminate treatment. The strike at fort devens was supposed publicized of these protest but it was by no means the only one. Conflicts were inevitable. Africanamerican women viewed their inclusion in the military and the armys new policy of equal treatment of black personnel signs of a gender and racial progress in the country. In contrast, the War Department considered these temporary, these as temporary can measure did it include a black man in large numbers as always did in a crisis, and for the first time in its history, enlisted women. Because it felt it had no other choice, it did so to win the war, not advance the status of subordinate citizens. As a result, the War Departments policies for personal sought to maintain the status quo, even if it heavily relied on these subordinate citizens. Thus while at promise africanamerican soldiers equal treatment, they continued to racially segregate them, prohibit them from command positions over white troops and relegate the majority to menial labor. Similarly, while an at accepted women in the military, it funneled them into a separate and a temporary core, the wac was supposed to dissolve after the war. It also limited its members to assignments it deemed appropriate feminine. Furthermore, when the War Department drafted directives for africanamericans, it did so with black men in mind. Likewise, when directing those who were drafting those are wacs, it did so with white women in mind. Apparently, the word departments leadership assumed that the sum of its policies would overlap to cover black wacs. Rather than overlap, however, they often excluded them. For example, the motor pool at fort devens held Training Programs for black soldiers, male soldiers, and others from white wacs. But as alis young discovered when she requested a transfer to the motor pool, there were none for black wacs. As a result, the motor pools command denied a request for a transfer. He also rejected any notion that this commission was a factor. After all, the motor pool offer trend to africanamericans and offer training to women. Wheres the discrimination . While the army prided itself on its uniform treatment of its increasingly diverse personnel, black wacs regularly slipped through the cracks of its policies. In this manner military policy mirrored simply laws which likewise overlooked black women. Lets take factory work for example. Roosevelt new deal legislation during the Great Depression did not mention race. Yet its Labor Protections primarily benefited the white man that white managers overwhelmingly hired. In 1941 civil rights leaders use their emerging clout to pressure roosevelt to create the fair Employment Practices committee. The fppc, forbade the fence contractors from discriminate against black workers but was silent on gender discrimination. To comply therefore factories hired mainly black men. Wartime civilian shortages brought white women to factory floors. Black women also apply for this jobs but were not taken on. Very rarely i should say. In 1942 in detroits industrial factories, fewer than 100 worked in these factories, 100 black women. Black female women again fell through the cracks. Despite the invisibility of black women in state policies and the historically appalling treatment of black men in the military, africanamerican women had reasons to expect better opportunities and greater respect in the wac than they had as civilians. Ill mention three. First, as briefly noted the War Department had agreed to a policy of equal treatment regardless of race. Second, the shortage of wacs to fill essential noncombat military occupations was so heavily publicized that the women knew that their service were greatly needed. In fact, they were greatly needed. Military didnt think take adve of it but they were greatly needed. Third, the army claims the fight against tyranny inspired in motor, of hope that it would not tolerate tyranny in its forces motor, these embolden thousands of black women to enlist. Rhetoric did not always match reality. Certainly circumstances differed around the country. Yet most black wacs at some point during their time in the Service Experience the same types of discrimination that young young, murphy, morrison and green encounter. When these women arrived at Induction Center in Fort Des Moines, iowa, the wac was under pressure to meet mounting personal request from commanders. To expedite the process it weekly trained and transferred them to assignments. At least this was the case for white wacs. Few commanders requested black recruits, most of them languished for months at Fort Des Moines. Young, murphy, morrison and gres during the spring and early summer of 1944 did not receive transfer orders until late october, months later. As part of 100 person detachment, the army said the four four to it under the command of colonel walter crandall, the administrator of the posts hospitals. Unbeknownst to them, crandall had fought this transfer tooth and nail. First insisted he didnt need them. Later he warned his superiors that with black men on post, presence of black women would surely lead to, and his words, social problems. With Fort Des Moines overflowing with unassigned black wacs, and were talking 1000 a thousad black wacs at different times were as white wacs which is go through and be sent elsewhere, the War Department was not having any of this. It ordered crandall to put in the requisition. How he employed women was left to him. Clearly intending to marginalize these troops that he did not want, crandall requested wacs without military skills so that he could place all but those needed to staff the detachment, the cadre, as orderlies in the hospital. Members of the detachment arrived at fort devens excited to our last begin their training and their assignment. Imagine their surprise then went i should into jobs that consisted of cleaning wards and waiting on staff and patients. Assuming this is all temporary, after all, they joined, they listed based on certain agreements, the new arrivals inquired about their training while diligently carrying out their current task. They were to clean up the place, recalled their supervisor, Sergeant Harold wickes. The commitment was less contemporary. In the the 1940s, 70 of emplos black women worked in service jobs. Roughly the same proportion of fort devens lacked wacs assigned to cleaning duties. Incidentally this was the case with all wacs, about 70 of them worked as orderlies at some point during their service. So yes, these women did an excellent job scrubbing floors, which as the women increasingly suspected, the officers assume they were naturally best suited to do. The womens hopes of other opportunities were dashed when two months after their arrival crandall noticed alice young taking a patients temperature. According to witnesses he bellowed that black wacs were not here for that purpose. They were here to do the dirty work, quoteunquote. Crandall later contested the phrasing but not the meaning. The orderlies were already flagging morale plummeted. Several other incidents over the next two months further demoralize the women, including the demotion of three new arrivals, all army trained surgical technicians to orderly duties. Tragically, another was the attempted suicide of a member of the detachment. On that, a month later, three others attempted the same. But theres no problems with the detachment. The explosive situation came to a head on march 9, 1945 after yet another incident had at last convinced the women that nothing would change unless they took a collective stance. That morning they launched a strike to protest treatment that was incongruent to the military policies that have encouraged their enlistment. I will mention here this was not planned in advance. The soldiers knew that the strike, or mutiny in military terms, involve great risk. They regularly reported similar actions by black men in uniform and the years and even decades of prison sentences incurred resisting Racial Discrimination. Yet after five months of meaning no labor, it was hard to refute more since admission that the women are working like dogs and that it was time to take decisive action. Not all were ready for this. According to private overton, upon waking up that morning, all the commotion around, she remarked you all strike while i sleep. Most of the others, but not initially not sure what to do, chose to join the strike. As jackson explained as a matter of cooperation, that if all the girls refuse to go to work, then it was up for me to stay with them. Nearly all of those on duty at the hospital refused to return to the orderly jobs under the same conditions. That is, until the general of their command of the First Service command, finally gather officers attention, presented them with a choice. Report to work or face a courtmartial. Privates young, murphy, morrison and green opted for the courtmartial. So did murphy who forcefully declared i would take death if i would go back to work. Arrested and held incommunicado, they had no way of knowing that their actions have sparked a national firestorm. Outside their confinement area news of the strike and courtmartial spread rapidly in both the black and mainstream presses, and usual for the time. Mary macleod bassoon, member of the president s black cabinet and found of the National Association of the colored women demand an investigation as did several members of congress. Other civil rights organizations, especially the naacp contacted highlevel officials about the case and work with local members who rallied behind the defendants. Scores of ordinary citizens, male or female, black and white followed the case. Many iraqi sector for stimpson, an extension and president roosevelt inquiries about how the armys treatment of these women who volunteer to serve when the country was in such great need. Others were furious over his work remark while still others reminded their leaders that the nation was waging a war to suppress tyranny. Are we as cold and inhumane as hitler, as one white woman of roosevelt. The president called black director to the white house to discuss the matter. Eleanor roosevelt also sought an appointment with hobby, only to be referred to her assistant. With the vast majority of the civilians were following the case supporting the women, the naacp chief attorney, thurgood marshall, considered its potential and taking on segregation in the military. The fort devens case obviously hit a nerve at a time when courtsmartial of black personnel claiming Racial Discrimination were as routine as they were ignored outside of africanamerican communities, this one stood out. These defendants of both wac and phenol, the case laid open fresh and thorny, context to discuss three of the most contentious issues of the war, women in the military, racial segregation, and the war for democracy. In the extensive War Department investigation of the strike, the army wholly deny discrimination at fort devens. It just didnt happen. The fact that 75 of black wacs wood is orderlies compared to just 12 of white wacs which suggests to us otherwise. But not too many white personnel in 1940s. Instead, they pointed to the poor army test scores as confirmation that black wacs did not qualify for skilled assignments. Officers also discovered women shole and, certainly, lazy, often late and usually complaining. Hardly the character of a model wac. A number of them spoke of the women having a tendency to place, play the race card when to did not get their way. These with the usual complaints leveled against lacked wacs across the United States. So lets see how they stack up at fort devens. First, the army general classification test score, the yes, the womens army test scores were low, as was the funding of black schools in the south were more than 70 of africanamericans lived. As an aside, black souls from better funded schools in the north typically outperform southern white recruits. In any case, back at fort devens the detachment over all scores were actually engineered to be low. Crandall requested personal with no trading so we could isolate them in menial jobs. His reassignment of the three surgical technicians to orderly duty substantiates this intention. As far as character, yes, black wacs complaints complaint abous at fort devens, but, and they were increasingly tardy for work, but not at first. When the first arrived they worked very hard at their jobs, but after their officers ignored the request for more and they realize this was probably the job they would have, they did start, their morale deteriorated. The race card, yes, blacks claimed discrimination that not as a cart of convenience. It was the reality. And ill buy at the hospital where they worked. Black but not white wacs at fort devens pulled kp, kp was stands for kitchen police. Nobody in the military ever like to perform kitchen police. But only white wacs why . Did not have to. Black wacs did. Many reported problems in the px such as clerks waiting on white customers before then. That was just one example. Reports of these complaints emerge later but during the trial the Prosecutor Major leader mccarthy focus on black wacs assignment, more accurately the refusal to do them. All four defendants expressed the desire to work. They really wanted to but when military positions, the wac had advertised as urgently needed, not as made. Mccarthy shot back this is not the point. They were on trial for disobeying military orders. At one point he interjected, look, there are things ive to do that i dont like to do. There are things you have to do that you dont like to do, but we do them the best we can and do we take the chance of getting something else. As white, male and an officer, mccarthy didnt understand i dont think he could comprehend that the opportunities available to them were really as accessible to africanamericans or two women. And certainly not to women of color. Their dual identities put africanamerican women in a category of their own and are therefore largely on their own. As the Defense Strategy that the naacp attorney adopted in the trial illustrates. A prominent boston lawyer and an ncaa peanut, Julian Rainey was also black pattern and, therefore, personally familiar with racism in the army. Racism, however, was not a viable defense during world war ii. The government and army insisting that segregation did not constitute discrimination. Randy cautiously approached another strategy. The perception of racism. Not that it was true, he said that his clients perceive that it was. Throughout the trial it tended to win the defendants release by describing it as confused and historical woman who did not know what they were doing. Young, murphy, morrison and gret they knew what they were doing. They, too, were fighting racism but also sexism. Blackman is seamlessly folded the plight of black women into their own fail to recognize how these experiences differed. The film and other black women, the defendants most vigorous supporters were only too well aware of the compound subordination that they experienced. Pauli murray, a young scholar struggling at the time as a lone female law student at Howard University expressed their dilemma. It were a minority within a minority. The courtmartial unusually opened to the public lasted two days with reporters crowded in the courtroom, the army to live its verdict, guilty. With that, the corps adjourned and the army white its hands of it. Much to the War Departments embarrassment, however, the verdict only intensified the debate surrounding the case. Many americans agreed with the verdict, yet many more were outraged. Ordinary citizens call for justice for the women. Some sought for crandall dismissal of the civil rights leader stepped up the demand for the army to look into the causes of the strike. Marshall agreed to the appeal. The War Department was also busy. They had to consider, it had to consider its options. The civilian reaction compelled the army to do what it really did in cases steep in charge of racial disco mission. They dismissed the verdict and restored the Service Personnel to duty. Very rare. For two weeks the press accepted, debated the standing and somewhat manipulated closure of the fort devens case that Time Magazine christened an easy way out. Then within a month the case disappeared from the press, and accordingly from popular accounts of the war. Today, americans know black men who served in other black men who served in the war most notably the tuskegee airmen. And of white wacs, largely through the Iconic Images in recruiting campaigns, but not of black wacs but. Once again black women overlooked and undervalued fell through the cracks. This looks at the refusal of these women to be invisible. They understand, they listed they did not fit neatly into military laws. Civilian laws for that matter either. But not why. White. Having enlisted to help them come help the war effort, the expected the army to deliver the jobs they promised, and respect that it prompted their enlistment. When it did not come ordinary soldiers like young, murphy, morrison and green and other wacs across the nation asserted their rights, compelling to officers to respond and acknowledge their existence. As military personnel. So yes, of course, black women were in the military during world war ii, even though we dont hear about them that much. So thats beginning to change. They were in world war ii, contribute to the war effort, the Civil Rights Movement and the case for the value of women in the military. And they were there to prompt their visibility people across the nation. Thank you. [applause] [inaudible] i love questions. Im thinking about the task that these black wacs took that showed, reportedly showed they had no aptitude in job other than cleaning. A generation after they took me and many other people in the film were taking the sats in which at that time were called the scholastic Admission Test instead of the scholastic aptitude test, right . I remember it taking the test, but didnt remember the particulars until i saw, and tell ralph nader came to our college and gave this talk. Among the things that he raised in the talk was the class and race bias of the scholastic admissions test. Because the first assault on the s. A. T. And the Educational Testing Service came from him, right, and a young man at princeton named alan. And then i remembered questions on the test that were using sailing terms. Questions on the test that asked me about starboard versus, i dont know, whats the other side of starboard . I was from a workingclass family. I knew nothing at saving. First keep in my family to go to college. Maybe you shouldve spent more time on your yacht. I was just so busy with high school i i guess i didnt have time. But the point is that i totally, i mean, in 68, 69 and 70, if the scholastic, if the best in america were putting together, princeton, putting together a test as biased as the s. A. T. , i can imagine how deeply biased the test that the military was administering to recruits. I was wondering if you could, on that . Yes, briefly. Those tests were very biased. I originally had this in the talk and i thought the audience would know this. The tests were very biased or one of the black wacs adjoin, she said, she blew through the test, no problem. She grew up in connecticut. She went to schools that were wellfunded and she said really basically just tested your reading, what you read. So yes, but i appreciate your comment about the sailing terms. Very interesting. Did their duties ever improve . Did they get better jobs . I was hoping someone would ask that, thank you. Ill slip you that ten afterwards. Yes and no. They return back to orderly duties because, during the investigation that was a monthlong investigation by the way. I i mean, it was intensive. The investigation is this thick, this thick i kid you not. And they interviewed hundreds and hundreds of people, including many of the black wacs. They came to the conclusion that there was no discrimination, Racial Discrimination. Sex wasnt talked about but there was no Racial Discrimination at fort devens. So these women did return back to the jobs, but they also realize that even though the detachment was not working well, the wacs attachment, they made a bunch of changes there. Including instituting a Training Program for black wacs. Well, it was for orderlies, it was for civilian orderlies, all orderlies, military or civilian. But if i instituted these training practices which are not there before. There were a few things that change, mainly trying to make sure things are written down so people knew what their duties were. Upon them restoring them back to the service duties, were there any bills passed or rights for women in the military that changed after this incident . Oh, my gosh, again im so glad you asked the question. Because for the women at fort devens, what i explained, extended xfinity about what i explained to you. But at the time the army was also working on a transfer to send black wacs, a contingent of black wacs, to gardner hospital in chicago just outside of hyde park. There was a lot of, many millions of other did not want that happened but others said were okay with it. We welcome them. What happened is the military after seeing have disastrous this worked out by popping and detachment onto this cardinals letha didnt want them, that the same thing could happen again. Colonels lap there are many memorandums going back and forth discussing in detail that the next detachment does going to gardner hospital would have a number of different skill levels, you know, many different ranks, that their commander would be well aware, would know what was going on. In fact, there were highlevel visits to gardner hospital. And the women who serve in that unit afterwards said they really felt that they got a lot out of it and they help the military so it was really good for morale. Thank you. If you fastforward to today, you know, i keep hearing that conditions for women dont sell all that much better. Of course there are isolated cases of people being promoted and getting to the glass ceiling, but im just curious if you have any research or comments . All, do i have comments. [laughing] the reason i wrote this book and i pursued making sure it was published is because of that very reason. I was in the military myself, in the 1970s, and i didnt see much difference between the way that women were treated. For six months i was a wac. Im very proud of that. Even though at the time i did know i was out of wac. Only learned it when i was doing my research. But i just thought it was so great, the military, everybody i wasnt so happy have not a treated, i didnt see that part. Its only when i was working on this research and thats with continued looking at these white personnel during world war ii who just didnt recognize racism right in the faces, whats wrong with these people . But after a while i started recognizing some of myself in them. And so, today i think many of us are aware that there are problems, that black women are still falling through the cracks, and overjoyed to see that not all of them are staying in the cracks. They never have. They never have. The policies that were constructed have that in mind, but the women did not. They always rejected it, but their story was not always told. So the way to find those stories is to really look at the black womens experience, not at the people at the top but look at their stores. They are there in the archives. A lot of times in courtmartial cases youll find them, more so than in the advertisements, but, but thats a tribute to them because they took the chance of getting in trouble and being disciplined and had a courtmartial, to state their point that we are here, were visible, we want to help in the military, deal with it. [applause] great questions, thank you. Heres a a look at some boos being published this week. So scott and hopefully bey Big Companies are novel someday. If we are doing our jobs correctly, we are also helping them grow the company hopefully