Description

Winner of the 2023 AnisfieldWolf Book Award in Nonfiction
A New York Times Notable Book
A Best Book of the Year from TIME Publishers Weekly Booklist Washington Independent Review of Books and more

Matthew F Delmonts book is filled with compelling narratives that outline with nuance rigor and complexity how Black Americans fought for this country abroad while simultaneously fighting for their rights here in the United States Half American belongs firmly within the canon of indispensable World War II books
Clint Smith 1 New York Times bestsellingauthor of How the Word Is Passed A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America

Over one million Black men and women served in World War II Black troops were at Normandy Iwo Jima and the Battle of the Bulge serving in segregated units and performing unheralded but vital support jobs only to be denied housing and educational opportunities on their return home Without their crucial contributions to the war effort the United States could not have won the war And yet the stories of these Black veterans have long been ignored cast aside in favor of the myth of the Good War fought by the Greatest Generation

Half American is American history as youve likely never read it beforeIn these pages are stories of Black heroes such as Thurgood Marshall the chief lawyer for the NAACP who investigated and publicized violence against Black troops and veterans Benjamin O Davis Jr leader of the Tuskegee Airmen who was at the forefront of the yearslong fight to open the Air Force to Black pilots Ella Baker the civil rights leader who advocated on the home front for Black soldiers veterans and their families James Thompson the 26yearold whose letter to a newspaper laying bare the hypocrisy of fighting against fascism abroad when racism still reigned at home set in motion the Double Victory campaign and poet Langston Hughes who worked as a war correspondent for the Black pressTheir bravery and patriotism in the face of unfathomable racism is both inspiring and galvanizing In a time when the questions World War II raised regarding race and democracy in America remain troublingly relevant and still unanswered this meticulously researched retelling makes for urgently necessary reading