Those guys, and the Red Tails, and the others who had been to Europe and found out what it was like to live in a non-racialized society came home with that knowledge and were the cutting edge of the civil rights movement in their communities in the 50s.
My strong impression is that American Blacks could live in France back then without facing discrimination. Probably same in England. I don't know how it was in other countries.
I think England was considerably behind the rest of Europe in these matters (especially France...think guys like Sidney Bechet). an English friend once told me about the old and very regrettable expression "w**s start at Calais."
other English friends have told me that racial attitudes (including feelings about people from India) in the UK started to shift considerably with the large influx of West Indians in the fifties.
but certainly, there were no Jim Crow-type situations in Europe during the war. on that level, things were a lot less racialized than they were (and continue to be in some places) HERE.
The original "Black Panthers"
Exactly! Then they came home after the war & were back in the good old USA - no rights!
Those guys, and the Red Tails, and the others who had been to Europe and found out what it was like to live in a non-racialized society came home with that knowledge and were the cutting edge of the civil rights movement in their communities in the 50s.
The military was still segregated, not sure Europe was all that non-racialized back then, was it?
My strong impression is that American Blacks could live in France back then without facing discrimination. Probably same in England. I don't know how it was in other countries.
You're right. When white MPs hassled black GIs in England, English people came out and defended them.
I think England was considerably behind the rest of Europe in these matters (especially France...think guys like Sidney Bechet). an English friend once told me about the old and very regrettable expression "w**s start at Calais."
other English friends have told me that racial attitudes (including feelings about people from India) in the UK started to shift considerably with the large influx of West Indians in the fifties.
but certainly, there were no Jim Crow-type situations in Europe during the war. on that level, things were a lot less racialized than they were (and continue to be in some places) HERE.