[Dixielandjazz] Early recordings by "Black bands"

[Don Kirkman]

The nearest musical reference I can come up with is "I didn't raise my
boy to be a soldier," but I do want to help clarify the integration
issue as others have clarified the issue of White labels and Black
bands.

>Marek wrote:

It actually took several years for the military to be integrated.  In
late 1945, after the end of the war, a study group made 18
recommendations on racial issues.  The next year the Army adopted a
policy of integration but little was done.  In September, Truman
established a civil rights committee, and in 1947 there was a policy
in place but Black enlistments declined.  Training of Black units
started at Tuskegee and in October the was a push for "using the
military 'as an instrument of social change' by ending segregation of
the services."

Little happened until Truman signed an Executive Order in October of
1948 to integrate all of the military forces.  In January, 1950, the
Army posted its first job opening list without racial requirements.
The first integrated combat was in Korea when a small number of Blacks
were assigned to the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade.  The first
integrated Army training  was at Fort Ord [CA] in 1951, where I was in
training in early 1951.
http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2008/0708_integration/military_integration_timeline.pdf

>I apolgize.  It happened in WWI, not II.
>I know about the black aiforce unit.
>In the American army, there were negro combat units.  After WWI, an
>unprecedented wave of lynching swept throug hthe US south - the sothern
>whites' way of telling the Negroes that their killing of whites in Europe
>was no really appreciated.
>Not sure it has much to do with jazz.  But jazz was less segregated.
>although Nick La Rocca was accused of racism, the ODJB's first clarinet
>player of choice was a Creole.  Sure, he could, and did, "pass," but he was
>fraom New Orleans and his bandmates knew.  On the other hand, some white
>musicians hired to record with Fats would not sit in the same room with him
>and grumbled about having to work "with that nigger" (in the depression
>days when any gig should have been welocme).
>Cheers (jost back from another Dancing Camel jam, and two pints of
>excellent beer brewed on the premises)
>
>
>On 13 February 2014 00:14, Jack Mitchell <fjmitch at westnet.com.au> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>
>>   "There was a case of an American Negro who served in the French
>> ariforce during WWII.  When The US joined the war effort, he wanted to fly
>> for his own country, but was told that no Negroes were accepted."
>>
>> Marek, the US armed forces were segregated just as much as the civilian
>> world, as intergrated units would not have been acceptable to many white
>> soldiers, especially those from the south. In the army Negro units were
>> used as support groups only.
>>
>> However the 99th Fighter Squadron of the USAAF, commonly called the
>> TUSKEGEE SQUADRON, was indeed an all Negro affair and had a great record of
>> bravery and efficiency.
-- 
Don Kirkman
donsno2 at charter.net