MSM 588 Taylor Howard - Voting Rights and Black WWII Veterans

Mississippi Moments Podcast

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6y ago 12:03

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African-American soldiers returned home to the Jim Crow South after WWII, determined to press for an end to black voter suppression and “separate but equal” segregation laws. In this episode we examine the military career and civil rights activism of Taylor Howard of Gulfport.

Howard was drafted into the all-black, 92nd Infantry Division in 1942. He recalls the racial tensions they encountered while training in Louisiana, as well as, their trek from the Arizona desert to the Italian Alps.

After the Battle of Anzio, entrenched German forces inflicted heavy losses on the 92nd Infantry Division in Northern Italy. Howard recounts how a regiment of Japanese-American soldiers helped turn the tide.

African-American soldiers returned home after the war, convinced they would now be treated as equals. Howard remembers being denied the right to vote by a group of angry white poll-watchers the following year.

PHOTO: Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2181029

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#History #Society #Center for Oral History #Cultural Heritage - Univ. Southern Miss #Oral History