Since February is Black History Month, and Leavenworth is a military town, I thought the readers of the Times might find of interest another article on the service of Black soldiers in the U.S. military. In this article, I will discuss the role played by Black Marines during World War II. My older brother, Joseph Evans, is a Marine and I wanted to honor him by doing this article.

The U.S. Marine Corps was established Nov. 10, 1775, to fight in the American Revolution. During the Revolution, a number of Black men joined the U.S. Marine Corps and fought side by side with their white companions. However, in the aftermath of the revolution, the U.S. government banned the recruitment of Blacks for the Marine Corps. So from 1798 until 1942, there were no Black Marines.

When the U.S. entered World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, there was a massive mobilization of all of the nation’s resources to fight the war. That mobilization included the mobilization of the nation’s Black population. Despite some resistance, in June 1942 President Roosevelt issued an executive order outlawing discrimination in the defense industries and in the armed forces.

That executive order opened the Marine Corps to Blacks, and soon Black Marine units were being formed. All in all, about 20,00 Blacks served int the USMC in World War II, about 4% of the total strength of the Marines in the war. A number of these Black Marine units served overseas, and they fought with bravery and determination.

Marine Gen. Alexander Vondegrift said of the Black Marines in the battle of Saipan: “The Negro Marines are no longer on trial. They are now all Marines.”

In 1948, President Truman ended segregation in the U.S. military, and since then there have been a large number of Black men and women serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. The Corps has accepted these Black Marines with open arms. My brother always says, “In the Marine Corps, the only color that matters is green.”

In conclusion, since the tragic death of George Floyd on Memorial Day 2020, we as a nation have been in the midst of a passionate and often bitter debate about our nation’s past history of racism. It is important to acknowledge this history.

As an academic, I always spend a lot of time in my courses talking about the long struggle to achieve racial equality in the U.S. And while much remains to be done, it is important to acknowledge that in recent decades we have made a lot of progress toward making our nation one in which the principle that “all men are created equal” are not just words but are a reality.

The Black Marines who fought so bravely for America in World War II played an enormous role in these recent advances toward equality in our nation. Put simply, when members of a racial or ethnic group are willing to put on the uniform of our nation and fight and die for us, it is no longer logically or morally possible to deny them equal rights.

Ernest Evans is a Leavenworth Times columnist.