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10 Things About the Mistreatment of Black Soldiers During World War II You May Not Know

By | Published on June 16, 2015
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Black Grave Diggers WWII

Whites Deemed Black Soldiers Incompetent

At the time, the many whites of the nation saw African-Americans as lazy and incompetent. Therefore, Black individuals that were in the armed forces were often given roles characterized by low-skill levels. According to The Institute on World War II and the Human Experience at Florida State University, “of the 909,000 total black men in the Army, 78 percent were in the service branches.” They were often hired as cooks, drivers and janitors.

Black Soldiers of WWII

Whites Purposely Limited the Number of Black Soldiers Inducted into Armed Forces

According to a study conducted by Ulysses Lee of the United States Army Center of Military History, Army officials deemed it necessary to limit the number of Blacks inducted into the armed services so that they could maintain the status quo. Therefore, in 1922, the War Department launched a plan to keep the number of Black soldiers at a minimum. This was due to that fact that the War Department believed that the best way to win the war was to exclude the potential efforts of Black people.

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