Wynn (The Afro-American and the Second World War
) surveys the experience of African-Americans during WWII in this brief, readable history—the latest entry in the publisher's African-American history series. Drawing on primary sources and recent scholarship, the author explores the “contradictory experience” of African-Americans during the war—“a mixture of progress and resistance”—and concludes that “the war years were crucial in the development of the emerging civil rights movement.” Wynn's evenhanded analysis of the paradoxical nature of African-Americans' wartime experience yields a balance between the hard-won successes—including significant economic progress—and the inevitable setbacks: foremost among them, the heightened racial divisions that led to widespread violence and the lack of any real progress in the struggle for social equality. The author argues that African-Americans' wartime experience prompted postwar advances—e.g., President Harry Truman's 1948 executive order ending racial segregation in the armed forces—but notes that, despite the gains, African-Americans still had a long way to go. A diverse selection of correspondence, editorials, government documents, and memoirs enhance the survey's value for general readers. (July)
