By David S. Kerr
UNTIL 1948, Americaâs armed forces âno exceptionsâwere segregated, and it was a hard segregation, too, one carefully embedded in the rules and culture of the organization.
In the Army, there were âcoloredâ divisions and âwhiteâ divisions. In the Navy, Blacks could only serve in units that loaded and unloaded cargo or work as cooks.
Of course, there had been breakthroughs. The Air Force, which only the year before had become a separate branch of the service, had African American pilots who were officers. They started as the famous Tuskegee Airmen.
It had been this way for generations. Even during the Civil War, when African Americans made up 10 percent of the Unionâs fighting forces, they functioned in segregated units.