As the Allied forces swept into Europe in 1945, liberating the cities and villages of France and Italy and Germany, Black servicemen witnessed something deeply troubling.

In some of the towns, the Nazi flag would come down and the Confederate flag would go up.

In his new book "Half American," Dartmouth historian Matthew Delmont writes ”too many white troops did not intend to see freedom and democracy extend back across the Atlantic to the home front.. They were fighting to maintain the status quo of race relations in America, including Jim Crow segregation and white supremacy."

Delmont, who has been teaching World War II history for a decade, says when he began his research even he was startled by how blatant and pernicious the discrimination was against Black Americans who were eager to join the war effort and to defend their country.  

He writes:  “It is high time that we reckon honestly with the history of World War II and the historical relationship between Nazism and white supremacy in this country.”

You’ll encounter a similar theme in Isabel Wilkerson’s remarkable book, “Caste” where she reports that Third Reich officials came to America to study how the country subjugated African Americans.

Delmont recounts the struggle that the Tuskegee Airmen had in deploying their formidable flying skills in service of their country and then the whispered character assassination they faced in Congress when word got out about their acts of courage. 

He writes of the bravery and fortitude of the Black soldiers who, when they were forced away from the front lines, worked behind them in construction, maintenance, logistical and supply jobs.  

And Delmont highlights the scurrilous role that the white press played, reporting lies about the ineptitude and alleged incompetence of troops of color. 

Delmont concludes: “Stories of the war that do not reckon with the Black American experience leave us ill prepared to understand the present and rudderless as we try to navigate the future.”

— Kerri Miller | MPR News