Desegregation

Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups usually referring to races. This is most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, particularly desegregation of the school systems and the military (see Military history of African Americans). Racial integration of society was a closely related goal. Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups usually referring to races. This is most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, particularly desegregation of the school systems and the military (see Military history of African Americans). Racial integration of society was a closely related goal. Starting with King Philip's War in the 17th century, blacks served alongside whites in an integrated environment in the North American colonies. They continued to fight in every American war integrated with whites up until the War of 1812. They would not fight in integrated units again until the Korean War. Thousands of black men fought on the side of rebellious colonists in the American Revolutionary War, many in the new Continental Navy. Their names, accomplishments or total numbers are unknown because of poor record keeping. During the American Civil War, Blacks enlisted in large numbers. They were mostly enslaved blacks who escaped in the South, although there were many northern black Unionists as well. More than 180,000 blacks served with the Union Army and Navy during the Civil War, in segregated units known as the United States Colored Troops, under the command of white officers. They were recorded and are part of the National Park Service's Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System (CWSS). Around 18,000 black people also joined the Union Navy as sailors. They were recorded and are part of the National Park Service's War Soldiers & Sailors System (CWSS). While a handful of Blacks were commissioned as officers in World War I, blacks were severely underrepresented throughout the conflict, though the NAACP lobbied for the commission of greater numbers of black officers. Upon entering office, President Woodrow Wilson segregated the United States Navy; previously the U.S. Navy had never been officially segregated. During World War II, most officers were white and most black troops still served only as truck drivers and as stevedores. The Red Ball Express, which was instrumental in facilitating the rapid advance of Allied forces across France after D-Day, was operated almost exclusively by African-American truck drivers. In the midst of the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower was severely short of replacement troops for existing military units—all of which were totally white in composition, so he made the decision to allow African-American soldiers to join the white military units to fight in combat for the first time—the first step toward a desegregated United States military. Eisenhower's decision in this case was strongly opposed by his own army chief of staff, Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith, who was outraged by the decision and said that the American public would take offense with the integration of the military units. For the Army Air Corps see the Tuskegee Airmen. For the U.S. Army see the 761st Tank Battalion (United States). In World War II, the U.S. Navy first experimented with integration aboard USCGC Sea Cloud, then later on USS Mason, (both commanded by Carlton Skinner) a ship with black crew members and commanded by white officers. Some called it 'Eleanor's folly', after President Franklin Roosevelt's wife. Mason's purpose had been to allow black sailors to serve in the full range of billets (positions) rather than being restricted to stewards and messmen, as they were on most ships. The Navy was pressured to train black sailors for billets by Eleanor Roosevelt, who insisted that they be given the jobs they had trained for.